Sanef calls for big tech companies to be held accountable, Namibia’s Competition Commission agrees

The South African National Editors’ Forum has asked the Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry, initiated by the Competition Commission of South Africa to consider getting Big Tech to look at fair compensation for using South African media content. Presentations were made by Chris Mcinga and Izak Minnaar, largely speaking on behalf of community media and the Press Council of SA. The Commission told SANEF that “X” (formerly Twitter) has declined to appear before the Commission. This is an unfortunate development and a missed opportunity as pointed out by Glenda Daniels, secretary-general of SANEF, that misogyny, bullying, and harassment of women journalists was widespread on the platform. At the same time, X has been unresponsive to calls to take down malicious content targeted at women journalists – including threats of rape, doing, and trolling. SANEF chairperson, and Treasurer-General of The Africa Editors Forum, Sbu Ngalwa explains.

The three-week inquiry kicked off in Pretoria on Monday 4 March 2024.

Meanwhile, the Director of the Enforcement and Cartels Division at the Namibia Competition Commission Paulus Hangula says SANEF’s request is valid and regulators of information technology in Namibia should also get involved in the matter that is affecting countries like Switzerland and most recently Australia and the United States which Facebook owner Meta won’t negotiate new commercial deals with publishers, essentially pulling back from paying publishers in exchange for hosting their content.

United Nations body UNESCO’s director for freedom of expression and media development, Guy Berger, also supported SANEF’s submission, saying news producers are legally liable for the content they produce, but big technology companies can dodge responsibility.