A thought-provoking moot court, hosted by Media Monitoring Africa at the Goethe-Institute today, placed South Africa’s proposed social media ban for children under the spotlight, inviting learners, legal minds, and youth advocates to debate whether such a move would protect children or do more harm than good.

Arguing in favour of the ban, Sophie Smit presented a compelling case grounded in constitutional law, international obligations, and the realities facing South African children online. She said the proposal aimed to protect minors from documented online harms, rather than to criminalise them, placing the best interests of the child at the centre of the argument.

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