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Local YouTubers may need to register with FPB if Amendment Bill is approved

The Film and Publications Board’s rather controversial Bill that aims to regulate the distribution of online content, is back in the news this week.

After several days of public consultation and comment late last month, the FPB has released a revised version of the Films and Publications Amendment Bill, and while some details have been clarified, it still contains some troubling language.

Nicholas Hall, founding member of Make Games SA and Interactive Entertainment South Africa (IESA), said that one of the big changes in the revised version is the addition of ‘commercial online distributor’ and ‘non-commercial online distributor’ defintions.

“The FPB has attempted to give some meat on what they think qualifies as user-generated content. For the most part they are successful, what is worrying is that any YouTuber who creates content as their primary source of income will need to register with the board, and have their content classified,” he explained on Twitter.

Here the Bill has been updated to read “to provide for accreditation of independent commercial online distributors.”

The way in which Hall says he understands the current wording is, for example, uploading a funny cat video to Facebook or YouTube on your personal channel you would be fine. But the problem starts if you make a living out of creating YouTube videos.

“YouTube Ads, or Vloggers (like Grant Hinds or Suzelle DIY) would need to register and have each video classified,” said Hall.

As one can imagine, classifying every single video on a channel would amount to a mammoth task for everybody involved. It could  very well eventually kill the local YouTube community.

Hall also said if the Bill is passed and written into law in the state that it is now, hugely popular video game streaming service Twitch would essentially be illegal in South Africa.

“Because of how the exemptions are worded, using Twitch for any commercial reason (like Orena SA) would be completely illegal. Because they would somehow need to have the live stream classified prior to it being streamed,” he said.

If the Bill is also understood correctly, it could have an an impact for gaming exhibitions like A MAZE or the more recent rAge gaming expo.

The revised version sets out “to revise and further regulate the functions of compliance officers regarding entering and inspection of premises and facilities in which the business of the sale, hire or exhibition of films or games is being conducted”

That would mean, for example, that either rAge can’t exhibit age restricted games, or it would have to have special booths where identification is checked in order to show off the latest games – if those are age restricted.

If you want to see what changes have been made in the revised version of the Amendment Bill, you can find a copy on Hall’s Interactive Entertainment South Africa website.

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