GovChat has welcomed SA’s move to prosecute social media doyen Meta and its subsidiaries, Facebook and WhatsApp.
This, despite the social media giant yesterday vowing to defend its platforms from what it says is “abuse” by government’s official citizen engagement platform.
Facebook parent company Meta is facing prosecution in South Africa for allegedly abusing its market dominance.
The commission asked the tribunal to impose a maximum penalty against Meta Platforms, WhatsApp and Facebook South Africa, which is 10% of their collective turnover.
GovChat is of the view that the prosecution of Facebook in SA sets a precedent for start-up companies in the country.
In a statement this morning, the citizen engagement platform welcomes the Competition Commission’s statement issued on 14 March.
The commission announced it has referred Meta Platforms (previously known as Facebook) and its subsidiaries, WhatsApp and Facebook South Africa (collectively referred to as Facebook), for abuse of dominance to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution.
GovChat says the matter is ground-breaking, being one of the few abuse of dominance cases ever to be prosecuted by the South African Competition Commission, and the first of its kind involving digital platforms and marketplaces.
According to GovChat, the case echoes the US Department of Justice’s anti-trust division’s recent case filed against Meta for “its strategies to eliminate emerging start-ups that rely on Meta platforms and ecosystem to offer and innovate upon their services, before they are able to become a threat to Meta’s dominance”.
GovChat CEO Eldrid Jordaan says: “This sets a precedent for South African start-ups to continue on their mission, regardless of the headwinds. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve the nearly nine million citizens and residents who use GovChat as their point of engagement and touch point.
“We are grateful to our partners, namely: the South African Social Security Agency, the Department of Social Development, the Department of Cooperative Governance, as well as the continued support of the United Nations in South Africa and Unicef.
“We hope the 10% fine which Meta faces will act as the deterrent to big tech from acting in a way that stifles start-ups, innovation and competition. We are thankful to be able to continue to serve the millions of people who have come to rely on GovChat, as well as government at various levels in their use of the data analytics to address citizens’ and residents’ needs.”
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