The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has labelled social media reports about a car radio licence fee as disinformation
Image: Karen Sandison/IndependentNewspapers
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has labelled social media reports about a car radio licence fee as disinformation, aimed at causing panic among South Africans.
This follows a fake statement that went viral on social media, falsely attributed to the SABC, claiming the broadcaster would introduce car radio licences due to a dramatic decline in TV licence revenue, exacerbated by the rise of streaming services like Netflix.
In a statement issued to the media on Thursday, the public broadcaster expressed concern over the "fabricated and misleading media statement" and clarified that there is no directive or policy within the SABC supporting such a proposal.
"The facts are the SABC has not issued any media statement or made any public pronouncement on a car radio licence fee. The SABC would like to refute this disinformation with the contempt it deserves, as there is no SABC directive or policy that aligns to this," the statement read.
The public broadcaster stressed that the current TV licence system remains unchanged and applies only to television sets as per the Broadcasting Act 4 of 1999 and TV Licence Regulations (2004).
"Any changes to this framework require legislative amendments and broad consultation."
It has been previously reported that the streaming platform SABC Plus continues to gain momentum, with the public broadcaster announcing that it has reached one million registered users.
The statement further stated that disinformation is aimed at causing panic and destabilising the SABC at a critical time.
"This disinformation is aimed at causing panic and destabilising the SABC, at a critical time where the organisation is celebrating its 1 million subscribers on its OTT platform, SABC Plus"
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