South Africa, June 17 -- This would capture user-to-user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction and which allow users to post material, alongside algorithms.

The ban will therefore include platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.

Messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal are not included in the social media ban.

A blanket ban on social media

In a move to protect children online and address the scale of the challenge, the government will also go further than a blanket ban on social media with world-leading blocks on harmful functions such as livestreaming and stranger communication with children for under-16s.

These restrictions - which together with the ban go further than any other cou...