South Africa's Competition Tribunal has ruled on procedural matters in the dominance case against Meta involving GovChat, following three days of pretrial hearings in December 2025. The decisions address evidence disclosure and the scope of intervening parties' arguments ahead of the main trial. These steps aim to ensure transparency while balancing accountability for big tech firms.
The Competition Tribunal conducted pretrial hearings from December 1 to 3, 2025, in the case pitting Meta Platforms, WhatsApp, and Facebook South Africa against the civic platform GovChat, also known as #LetsTalk. GovChat, which leverages WhatsApp for citizen engagement and collaborated with government during the Covid-19 pandemic, sought relief after Meta threatened to remove it from the service.
On the first day, the tribunal examined Meta's electronic discovery processes, mandating human oversight for searches, identifiable data custodians, and detailed documentation of search terms and filters to promote accountability.
The second day centered on GovChat's compliance challenges. The platform, now described as a dormant entity, reported data loss that hindered full responses to Meta's demands. The tribunal rejected an attempt by GovChat shareholder Bradley Jonathan Sacks to quash a subpoena requiring his document production.
Proceedings on December 3 debated whether GovChat could present evidence on the case's substantive issues, despite its limited role in remedies. Meta sought to exclude statements from Sacks and Ms Haslam that addressed market dominance and anti-competitive behavior, claiming GovChat was encroaching on the Competition Commission's domain. GovChat's counsel, Paul Farlam SC, countered that such evidence was essential: "Presenting evidence of the contravention is not optional — it is legally necessary." The Competition Commission supported this view, warning that exclusions could cause delays.
In rulings issued on December 22, the tribunal ordered Meta to disclose more information to GovChat and denied Meta's push for further discovery from GovChat. A decision on the strike-out request remains pending. These outcomes set the stage for the trial, potentially leading to fines up to 10% of turnover if dominance is confirmed, and they underscore efforts to regulate digital services fairly in South Africa.
