Malatsi criticises government for South Africa’s poor digital literacy
· Citizen
Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi said government must do more to close the gap between those who have access to digital connectivity and those who do not.
During the Government Social Media Summit this week, Malatsi emphasised that this digital divide needs to be addressed before incorporating public services onto digital platforms.
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Challenges
He noted that AI cannot be used to automate the old habits of government, nor does the responsibility for digital inclusion only sit with government.
“We cannot simply digitise inefficiency,” Malatsi said.
“Digital literacy matters. Of course it does.”
He said citizens need the skills to navigate online spaces, identify risks, protect their information, and distinguish credible information from manipulation.
Digital literacy
Malatsi explained that the government must invest in those skills, as schools, libraries, community centres, public servants, communicators and civil society all have a role to play.
“But we must be careful not to turn digital literacy into a convenient way of blaming citizens for environments that were not designed with them in mind,” the minister said.
“So let me say this plainly: do not ask citizens to be literate in an environment you have deliberately made illegible,” he warned.
Accountability from social media platforms
Malatsi said that people shouldn’t be told to “do their own research” when the architecture of some sites rewards outrage over evidence.
“Do not place the full burden of safety on [social media] users when systems are designed to maximise attention, frictionless sharing and behavioural prediction,” he said.
“And do not speak about partnership with government while avoiding accountability for the public consequences of platform design.”
When discussing the government’s expectation from social media platforms in this regard, he emphasised that it does not mean that every potential online harm requires a new law, a new regulator or a new layer of state control.
“Because over-regulation can reduce innovation, weaken open expression and make digital spaces less dynamic.”
Regulation
Avoiding over-regulation requires responsibility, said Malatsi.
“The best way for industry to avoid heavy-handed regulation is not to argue against regulation after harms have already occurred,” he added.
“It is to act responsibly enough that unnecessary regulation is not required in the first place.”
He said government will regulate where necessary and would prefer to do that through partnership, accountability and responsible self-regulation because it has a duty to protect the interests of society.
“We will regulate where it is necessary. But we would much rather see platforms take responsibility before regulation becomes unavoidable,” Malatsi said.
Collaboration
He emphasised that the government needs technology companies and that citizens benefit from innovation.
“Public communicators use these tools everyday,” said Malatsi
He added that social media has opened space for voices that were historically ignored.
“AI can help government understand needs faster, detect emerging risks, translate information, improve service access and support better decision-making,” Malatsi said.
He reiterated that no one can do it on their own, but together, a more trusted digital public sphere can be created through collaboration.
Those that are excluded
In the digital age, public service must be rooted in simple communication that is able to reach the people who are easiest to miss, he added.
“That means designing for low data use, communicating across languages, acknowledging that offline channels are still necessary in some cases.”
Malatsi said that the true measurement of a successful shift towards a digital state is whether it includes the citizen who has been excluded, unheard, unseen, offline, priced out, or spoken for.
The AI era
During the discussion, Malatsi said that if misinformation reaches excluded communities faster than credible public information does, then government has more than a communications problem.
“It has a trust problem,” he noted.
He said this is more urgent in the AI era.