Election regulations binned: 'Victory for media freedom in South Africa!'

Bongani Bingwa is joined by William Bird, Director of Media Monitoring Africa.

Listen to the interview in the audio player below.

The Film and Publications Board (FPB) recently introduced new regulations to combat election misinformation.

However, some media-related organisations, including Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), say these regulations restrict free speech.

Last week, MMA threatened legal action if the rulings weren't removed by 4 April and then acted on its promise, launching an application for an urgent interdict on the regulations.

"We launched an urgent application, citing five grounds on which the regulations were  clearly and patently unconstitutional and by Friday evening the FPB had sent us a reply saying they were going to be withdrawing the regulations."

- William Bird, Director - Media Monitoring Africa

"The basic point is this; no-one is saying you don't need to act on misinformation, but their idea around it is like Donald Trump's suggestion of 'let's build a wall'. For a nanosecond it sounds like a good idea, but the more you look into it, the more you see it doesn't solve any problems."

- William Bird, Director - Media Monitoring Africa

"These regulations would have led to fundamental incursions and unreasonable incursions onto freedom of expression."

- William Bird, Director - Media Monitoring Africa

So, what happens now?

"Saying they'll withdraw the regulations is one thing; we'll be engaging with them and with our legal team over the next couple of days..."

- William Bird, Director - Media Monitoring Africa

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Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.