COMMENT: The Films and Publications Amendment Act aims to protect citizens, but new technology requires that the regulations and guidelines are updated.
Humans are innately wired for progress; it’s in our evolutionary DNA. But history shows that often much is sacrificed in the name of advancement. At the start of the second industrial revolution, few would have predicted that burning fossil fuels would have such deleterious effects on our environment.
Media convergence sees consumers opting to get their news, information and entertainment online. At the same time a significant power shift has occurred. The gatekeeper role of curated information, once held by traditional media, is dissolving because citizens now have the ability to share their opinions far and wide on social media. In South Africa, our Constitution has won global acclaim for its ability to balance rights and responsibilities.
The intent of the Act has always been to ensure that citizens are protected from content in films, games and publications that could cause them moral, emotional or psychological harm. Precepts of the Act, and the regulations that implement them, create that fine balancing act between the rights and responsibilities of citizens. The Amendment Act brings the law in line with advancements in digital technologies to protect against harmful content online.
An age rating, for example, alerts a parent that the content might cause developmental, emotional or psychological harm to their children under that age. An “SV” element warns survivors of sexual violence that the content may trigger their previous trauma. A “P” element warns of prejudicial themes against religious, racial and interest groups.
Prior to the Act being signed by the president, a distributor of physical content needed to ensure that the content is assigned an age rating and element classification before it is distributed. Mechanisms are now being put in place through the Act’s draft regulations to provide greater clarity and direction on how content that is distributed online for commercial gain is classified.
The nature of online distribution channels is vastly different from traditional distribution channels. The Film and Publication Board is consulting the creative and distribution industry to simplify the process of classifying commercial online content. This includes the possibility for these online service providers to self-classify based on South Africa’s classification system or applying for the accreditation of a recognised and aligned international classification system.
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