Anyone with grievances about harmful online content can lodge complaints with the Online Safety Commission (OSC).
Prominent Suva lawyer Jon Apted stated that if a post was causing or likely to cause serious emotional harm, a complaint could be made, and the Commission could either accept or decline to act on it.
“If the commission accepts the complaint, it will first try to mediate between you and the poster,” Mr. Apted said.
“It will investigate and if it can identify who posted it, will mediate, and if it can’t get the poster or sharer to apologize and offer appropriate compensation, it can take that person to court.
“That’s the civil route. If the OSC declines to act, you can go to court yourself and get these orders, but only if you’ve tried the commission first.”
He said the Online Safety Act allowed for prosecution if electronic communications caused actual harm to another person or involved sharing an intimate visual recording without consent.
He mentioned that the commission entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with Fiji Police in 2018, under which the former refers cases to the latter for prosecution on its behalf.
Mr. Apted also noted that there are serious penalties that apply.
“Causing harm by posting electronic communication for an individual can lead to a fine of up to $20,000 or imprisonment for five years or both.
“If you’re a corporation, the fine could be up to $100,000, and for directors and managers, up to $50,000 or imprisonment for seven years or both.
“In deciding the penalty, they consider the circumstances, how extreme the language and images were, the extent of circulation, whether the information was true or false, and whether it was malicious.”