‘Act in place for six years’

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Fiji’s Online Safety Act is not solely responsible for regulating social media, but also all forms of electronic communication, including text, Messenger, and Viber. Picture: FIJI TIMES ONLINE

Fiji’s Online Safety Act is not solely responsible for regulating social media, but also all forms of electronic communication, including text, Messenger, and Viber.

Suva lawyer and prominent social media personality Jon Apted made the statement while speaking on The Lens@177.

Speaking about cyberbullying and its impact on the country, Mr Apted said the term was not defined in Fiji’s law, however, the Online Safety Act 2018 was in place for six years.

Mr Apted said one of the purposes of the Act was to regulate cyberbullying, and it sought to regulate electronic communications that caused serious harm to an individual.

He said cyberbullying was a colloquial, convenient description for behaviour online that threatened or intimidated other people.

“Cyberbullying is a term that we use in conversation, it’s not a legal term. Cyberbullying is understood as behaviour online which is threatening or intimidating to another person.

“The thing to remember is cyberbullying can occur even when what you are saying is true. It doesn’t have to be false. It’s not like defamation. It’s online behaviour that threatens or intimidates somebody because of things that are true or untrue.”

He shared parallels with the recent death of social media influencer Esala Lewamama, fondly known as Ranadi Kei Viti.

Mr Apted said many people had attributed the tragedy to alleged cyberbullying because it was preceded by many posts and shares which painted the deceased victim in a negative light.