Mercia Fynn, Director and head of Commercial Department at Kisch IP. Image: Supplied.
The instant messaging app, WhatsApp, which was used by 23 million South Africans in 2021, according to Statista, recently made some changes that group administrators (admins) should make note of.
A change in the app’s features for group admins has effectively made admins responsible for any questionable or illegal messages posted in their groups.
Mercia Fynn, Director and head of Commercial Department at Kisch IP, says the change, which now allows group admins to delete any messages in the group chat, also makes the admin potentially liable for illegal or defamatory content.
Fynn says, “Many South Africans are members of WhatsApp groups to stay up to date with communications of common interest to occupants of a sectional title complex, members of a social club, or parents of school children in a particular grade or class. However, while these WhatsApp groups can be useful, they can also expose members to questionable content.”
Previously, only senders could delete messages, but as of 1 September 2022, WhatsApp group admins also have the option to delete any messages posted by any members, effectively giving the admin stronger moderation tools.
“This change also means that South Africans now have a definitive answer to the question whether admins are responsible for content shared on WhatsApp groups. In short - yes, they are,” says Fynn.
Fynn cautions that WhatsApp admins now need to ensure that they promptly delete any illegal content, such as hate speech, threats, incitement or defamatory statements, because failure to do so may indicate their endorsement or approval of this content, and could put them at legal risk.
She notes: “The case Isparta v Richter and Another 2013 (6) SA 529 established the precedent that where a person is tagged or mentioned in unlawful content on social media and they don’t actively take any steps to distance themselves from it, they could face legal action for engaging in the so-called “chain of publication” in respect of that content. It's important for admins to exercise caution when using social media platforms, even if it’s just the family WhatsApp group chat, as liability may be incurred for simply omitting to perform a few screen taps.”
“If a person is in a WhatsApp group and is not the group admin, they may express their disapproval of any illegal content or simply leave the group if they wish to avoid potentially being seen to be in the chain of publication,” she adds.
Recently, WhatsApp expanded group chat sizes to 512 members, with up to 2GB of file transfers and reactions to messages. WhatsApp’s file-sharing size also increased from 100MB to 2GB, aimed to enhance collaboration among small businesses and school groups.
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