FACEBOOK TO ADDRESS PARLIAMENT
Representatives from Facebook South Africa have been requested to appear before Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies.
This is according to a statement released by the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Phumzille van Damme, a DA member of the Committee, said in the statement that Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, will be expected to explain what steps it is taking in tackling harmful misinformation, particularly ahead of the 2021 local government elections.
Facebook often tailors plans for countries ahead of elections to guard against harmful misinformation.
Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has had to appear before a committee in the United States regarding the sharing of misinformation before the previous presidential election.
In her statement, van Damme also said that another point of discussion will be the effect that the Personal Protection of Information Act (POPIA) will have on users making use of the social media platform.
The meeting will also start the discussions "regarding Facebook paying South African media houses for carrying their content, as was recently successfully implemented in Australia".
The Australian government recently introduced new legislation forcing the tech giants to pay local media companies for using content on their platforms, reports News24.
Image credit: The South African