Good morning Honourable Minister Malatsi

I hope you are doing great today.

I am writing to you today to address a matter of concern regarding social media in South Africa, X in particular. I believe social media is being hendled in your office honourable minister.

There is a lot of hate, bulling, and victimisation happening on X, and it is mostly fuelled by people whom their identity cannot be confirmed. This has an effect on people, organisations, nations, and there is zero protection towards children.

I will make an example of current events that are a matter of concern. Currently, a number of South African are currently doing a trend of requesting fake BOLT rides in Nigeria, wasting valuable times for people of that country. In return, Nigerian people have retaliated by doing the same in our beloved country requesting rides that are fake and leaving drivers frustrated and confused. This is a ticking bomb minister, I foresee a serious conflict rising between these 2 nations.

The second example is about the catfish accounts on X which we have no idea who owns these accounts. Accounts such as @chrisexcel102, @goolammv, @keletsomss, @joy_zelda, @advberrryrouc, and many more.

Honourable minister, I believe social media must be regulated in South Africa. Everyone joins social media willingly, but the government should do more to protect the people from damaging themselves and other people.

I believe in every social media account, verification is essential so that people can refrain from bulling other people on social media. Every account should be known who the owner is. By doing this, people will be more responsible in what they say or do on social media, which will reduce social media bullying we all experienced in South Africa. This is not to silence people, free speech would still apply, but we need to know who it comes from.

Verification of people on social media will protect people from social media scams that are currently happening in our country. The verification must happen in all social media networks (Facebook, X, TikTok, and more).

Honourable Minister, I hope all is in order. I look forward to hear from you.