Suggested Amendments to the Online Safety Act No 09 of 2024 – A Primer

['Ashwini Natesan', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright'] Blog — LIRNEasia 2025-08-19 16:27:37

On 13th August, a public notice calling for comments on the Online Safety Act No 09 of 2024 (“OSA”) and the proposed amendments published in July 2024 was released. While there are many aspects that warrant a review, here is a short summary of a few clauses that need amendments. Section 14 – Wantonly giving provocation by false statement to cause riot Duplication: Covered under Penal Code Merge with Section 12 definition of “false statement” Streamlines offences and avoids redundancy/ repetition. Section 17 – Online Cheating Duplication: Penal Code already addresses cheating Either – 1. Consider an amendment to the Penal Code to explicitly reference cheating in the online space (note that such a reference is not needed as the Penal Code is not restrictive and is technology neutral) Or 2.