Student Number:
Unique Number: 627076
Discussion Forum
Question 1
1.1 The impact of social media on the constitutional right to privacy.
Section 14 of the Constitution of South Africa states:
Everyone has the right to privacy, which includes the right not to have—
(a) their person or home searched;
(b) their property searched;
(c) their possessions seized; or
(d) the privacy of their communications infringed.
Social media is not only used to display and share aspects of our personal lives but
our professional lives as well. With the rapid advancement of the different features of
social media and increase of people who use social media it is almost correct to say
that everyone uses some form of social media in their everyday lives in one way or
another, whether it is just using Facebook or keeping up to date with the news or
whether it is constantly using multiple apps such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat,
WhatsApp and many more. It is also a problem that many young children use social
media platforms and are therefore exposed to the harsh reality of the internet’s
content as well as other people’s opinions that are sometimes, though cruel or
advanced and can be considered cyber-bullying, are backed up by an individual’s
right to freedom of expression granted by section 16 of the Constitution. The problem
social media presents is that it gives people so many numerous platforms on which
to share the very many aspects of their lives until almost nothing is kept secret
anymore and then when the people who share so much online do express the right
to have privacy, the public feels that they are somehow part of their lives already and
feel entitled to know everything about them. The line between what people view as
private and public information becomes blurred and may cause people to become
angered or even begin to act slanderously and maliciously towards that person
resulting in cyber-bullying. People therefore become confused or do not accept
others’ want for privacy when they themselves or the other person has a history of
consistently sharing their lives and information online, creating a false sense of
entitlement and feeling that certain information is being withheld from them when in
fact such information is none of their concern.
This study source was downloaded by 100000832361371 from CourseHero.com on 02-09-2022 08:36:48 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/67776655/SJD1501-ASSIGNMENT-06docx/