hermanus Text messages cybercrimes

A 40-year-old business accused of raping a minor was granted bail. Photo via: Pixabay

Careful! You can now be JAILED for sending these text messages in SA

The new Cybercrimes Act came into force on Tuesday – and it brings a specific set of warnings against these types of text messages.

hermanus Text messages cybercrimes

A 40-year-old business accused of raping a minor was granted bail. Photo via: Pixabay

On Tuesday 1 June, Cyril Ramaphosa signed a vital new Bill into South African law. It’s been described as the moment Mzansi ‘joins the big boy table’, in terms of preventing cybercrimes and protecting our digital security. However, it is the specific clause on ‘harmful text messages’ that has drawn the most attention.

What is the Cybercrimes Act

Under the Cybercrimes Act, people sharing malicious content via WhatsApp, SMS, or any other digital platform can be punished – IF it can be proved that they are distributing text messages that are threatening or intimately revealing. Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Head of Data Privacy at Werksmans Attorneys, unpacked what this means for South Africans:

“This Bill, which is now an Act of Parliament, creates offences for and criminalises, amongst others, the disclosure of harmful messages. A person convicted of an offence under the Cybercrimes Act is liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period of up to fifteen years – or to both a fine and such imprisonment as may be ordered in terms of the offence.”

“Other offences include cyber fraud, forgery, extortion and theft of incorporeal property. The unlawful and intentional access of a computer system or computer data storage medium is also considered an offence along with the unlawful interception of, or interference with data.”

What text messages are now illegal to send in South Africa?

As named by the Bill, there are three specific types of ‘harmful communications’ that can land citizens with a hefty fine, or even a jail sentence. Essentially, the Cybercrimes Act is looking to clamp down on text messages that severely impair the dignity, safety, or security of a person in the digital space. Therefore, you can be imprisoned for posting the following:

  • Messages which incite violence or damage to property are now outlawed.
  • Anyone who threatens persons with violence or damage to property is also guilty of a criminal offence.
  • – Furthermore, the unlawful distribution of an ‘intimate image’ – classed as revenge porn – is punishable under the Cybercrimes Bill.