Goodness and Mercy Ministries (GMM) President Prophet Tapiwa Freddy has condemned all acts of sharing sexually explicit material on social media, warning all content creators that such practices endangers the rights of minors.
He said these remarks following an influx of explicit content such as nudity and profane language that involve social media influencers, a situation which has been perpetrated by the race for followers, clicks and monetization.
In his message, Prophet Freddy said social media is a good platform for interaction and growth therefore it must be used in a proper way that do not compromise Ubuntu or put the rights of others in jeopardy.
“Social media is good, let us use it positively. Social media should be constructive and informative rather than destructive.
“Nowadays you have to think twice when you want to open social media, you have to mute your devices first because you never know what is going to pop up and play next. There is now a lot of hate speech and demoralizing content on social media.
“I just want to urge all people to use social media in a positive way and in a way that is safe for our children,”
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has since issued a stern warning to such bad mannerism expressing that it infringes the law of freedom of expression.
BAZ further said that all broadcasting and digital content consumed in Zimbabwe fall under the country’s legal and constitutional framework regardless of the platforms used.
The authority cited that although section 61 of the country’s constitution guarantees freedom of expression, the right must be exercised responsibly as enshrined in section 86 of the constitution of Zimbabwe which limits freedom to protect the rights of others and public morality.
Zimbabwe has several strict laws that prohibits production and sharing of explicit content and these laws include; Broadcasting Services Act which mandates the protection of minors from content that may harm their moral or psychological well-being, and the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act which outlaws the distribution of material deemed vulgar, indecent, or harmful to public decency.
