South Africa: WhatsApp group admins could land in hot water for content shared on the group

It has been reported that people who administer WhatsApp groups could be held legally responsible for what’s said on the group and could be sued for defamation. Social media expert Emma Sadleir says this is not something new and people have been prosecuted in the past for being responsible for defamatory posts.
She says if you have the ability to stop something bad from being published on social media, go ahead and delete it.
“The law of South Africa treats you (administrator) as if you are like an editor of a newspaper and you are responsible for the content of its pages.
— Emma Sadlier, Social media specialist
The learning from this case is that when you are the administrator of a page and someone posts something obscene, controversial or illegal you have to immediately dissociate yourself from it.
— Emma Sadlier, Social media specialist
Sadlier says WhatsApp group administrators should make it very clear that they are dissociating themselves from what's been said on the group if it is defamatory in any way.