Social media law expert Emma Sadleir Berkowitz has warned that a new change rolling out to WhatsApp can lead to legal trouble for group admins in SA.

An update to WhatsApp began rolling out to users on 1 September 2022, giving group admins more power and control over the content being shared on various platforms.

Admins who have the update activated will be able to long press on any message sent in the group and ‘delete for all’, adding stronger moderation tools.

Previously, only those who sent the message were able to delete them.

Business Tech reports that the time limit for these deletions to take place has also been extended from a few hours to a couple of days.

According to Sadleir Berkowitz, the update is ‘a game changer’ in a South African context.

‘In South African law, if you have the ability to delete something, and you choose not to, then you become legally responsible for the content,’ she said.

‘If you’re the admin of a WhatsApp group, because of this recent change, you become legally responsible for everything that appears on that group.’

Full Business Tech report