Meta Platforms, the company that owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has been given until midday on Tuesday to permanently remove more than 30 Instagram handles and WhatsApp channel accounts posting graphic pornography involving schoolchildren and provide information about who is behind them.
This followed an urgent application heard on Monday night by the Johannesburg high court. The accounts were posting “graphic child pornography, devastating personal information, allegations of children being HIV positive — all the while identifying individuals and schools”, said the Digital Law Company’s (DLC) Emma Sadleir in court papers.
Speaking to TimesLIVE, Sadleir said she had done such cases before, “but I have never seen anything like this”.
Sadleir said she was told of two people who committed suicide because of the content on Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta “has blood on its hands”, she said.
An annexure to the court papers attached some of the content including a video of what is claimed to be schoolchildren having sex in the toilets, posts that name children and their schools, claiming they have sexually transmitted infections, and pornographic photos and videos of young girls.
The court papers said the person behind the account would solicit anonymous “leaks” of pornographic content via Instagram and then post these on WhatsApp channels. These WhatsApp channels, which are different from groups and communities, can be opened anonymously and can be followed by anyone, with no limit on the number of followers.
“It goes without saying the uploading and distribution of this content is a crime, a flagrant disregard of the law and an egregious violation of constitutional rights,” said Sadleir in her affidavit to court.
Judge Mudunwazi Makamu ordered Meta and three individuals to “permanently remove from public view” a number of listed Instagram handles and WhatsApp channels and “permanently disable the creator” from creating any further Instagram accounts or WhatsApp channels.
Meta was also ordered to provide DLC with all the information it had about the identity of the person or people behind the accounts.
However, there might be a legal dispute coming over whether an SA court has jurisdiction to give an order against Meta.
After Sadleir’s DLC sent a letter of demand, it received a letter from Bowman Gilfillan, attorneys for Facebook SA, saying that while DLC’s letter was addressed to Meta Platforms and some officials, it had used Facebook SA’s address.
“Please note that Facebook South Africa is the wrong entity for your request. Facebook South Africa does not host, operate or control any social media platforms such as Instagram or any messaging service such as WhatsApp,” said the letter.
Users of Instagram and WhatsApp contracted with Meta, said the letter, and Facebook SA was a separate legal entity. The letter requested DLC to “direct future correspondence” to an address in the US. It also said correspondence should not be addressed to individuals.
However, the court papers reveal DLC had, before resorting to litigation, been liaising with individuals who were cited in the court papers and who had responded to her requests.
The court order was given against these individuals as well as the company, opening the way for an application that they be held in contempt if the order is not complied with.
TimesLIVE
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