Meta Platforms has agreed to disclose subscriber information linked to WhatsApp and Instagram accounts that shared explicit content involving South African school children.
The decision follows an urgent court application filed by the Digital Law Company, which sought to hold Meta in contempt of court over its failure to act swiftly on the matter.
Judge Mudunwazi Makamu granted a settlement order in the litigation, with Meta committing to release the requested information.
The Digital Law Company described the ruling as a “landmark moment” in efforts to protect children from digital harm.
As part of the agreement, Meta will also establish a dedicated two-year hotline with the Digital Law Company to fast-track urgent child protection cases and ensure that future reports receive immediate attention. The Digital Law Company said:
We believe this is the first time in South African legal history that a global tech giant has agreed, in writing and in court, to these kinds of terms.
We hope it signals a turning point in how platforms respond to harm within our jurisdiction.
The Digital Law Company said the outcome reinforces that tech companies operating in South Africa must comply with local laws, court orders, and standards of dignity and child protection.
The case against Meta was initiated after the firm’s founder and social media law expert, Emma Sadleir, was alerted on 11 July to two accounts sharing illegal content.
She described the material as horrific and said the offender had encouraged submissions from followers, including minors. While such cases often involve extortion, the goal here appeared to be humiliation and shame.
On 14 July, the Digital Law Company filed an urgent court application after one of the WhatsApp channels threatened to post a large quantity of illegal material.
Judge Makamu ordered Meta to shut down the platforms involved, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, and to provide identifying details of the perpetrators, including names, email addresses, and phone numbers.
Although Meta took down many of the original accounts, the Digital Law Company said additional channels quickly emerged.
The firm accused Meta of failing to cut off the perpetrator’s access to its platforms and withholding the information necessary to pursue legal action.
During its investigation, the firm uncovered a vast network of over 1,000 posts, both videos and photos, circulated across 30 Meta accounts in just a few days.
In a statement following the court order, Meta said it has zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation and that it had reported the accounts it identified to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The company said it would continue to cooperate with law enforcement and respond to valid legal requests.
However, Facebook South Africa’s legal team later sent a letter to the Digital Law Company claiming the wrong parties had been cited in the court application and advised that future correspondence be directed to Meta officials in the United States.
The Digital Law Company called the letter puzzling, insisting their demand was addressed to Meta and its appropriate officials, not Facebook SA, which they acknowledged has no control over Instagram or WhatsApp.
When Meta failed to meet the deadline to hand over the required user data by noon on Tuesday, the Digital Law Company launched a contempt of court application.
It requested that the court issue a writ committing Meta’s Southern Africa head of policy to 30 days in prison or until the company complied with the order.
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