POPIA Portal | What's New: Data Privacy Roundup 2026 Q1 Edition no 3

Two recent developments stand out in the POPIA landscape. The first is the Information Regulator’s draft code of conduct for the processing of personal information at gated accesses. The second is the growing international focus on AI-generated imagery and the privacy risks created when realistic images or videos of identifiable individuals can be generated without their knowledge or consent.

POPIA Portal | What's New: New CPA Opt-Out Registry - What Direct Marketers Must Now Add to Their POPIA Process

South Africa’s direct marketing rules have gained a new compliance step.

On 15 April 2026, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition published amendments to the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) Regulations dealing with direct marketing and the consumer opt-out registry. The amended Regulations give practical effect to the CPA’s existing right to register a pre-emptive block against direct marketing.

POPIA Portal | What's New: Data Privacy Roundup 2026 Q2

POPIA enforcement is becoming more assertive, with the Information Regulator increasingly moving beyond guidance and enforcement notices. In this roundup, we look at recent enforcement actions, what they signal for compliance, and what organisations can learn from them.

POPIA Portal | What's New: POPIA and AI-Friends, Frenemies or Future Partners?

Artificial intelligence is no longer experimental. It is already embedded in ordinary business activities, from drafting documents and profiling customers to automating decisions, monitoring behaviour, generating content and analysing risk.

At Juta’s May 2026 webinar, POPIA and AI: Friends, Frenemies or Future Partners?, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, Chairperson of the Information Regulator, placed AI firmly in the POPIA context.

POPIA Portal | What's New: Data Privacy Roundup 2026 Q3

The 2026 Q3 data privacy update highlights a clear shift from compliance on paper to compliance that can be proved. Locally, the Information Regulator’s recent POPIA and PAIA enforcement notices show that public and private bodies must report security compromises, justify refusals of access, honour settlement agreements and keep proper evidence of their decisions.

POPIA Portal | What's New: Is Privacy Becoming a Paid Feature?

There is a familiar bargain behind many digital services: the service appears to be free, but the user pays with personal information. Pay-or-consent models make that bargain explicit. The user is asked either to pay a subscription fee to avoid certain data processing, usually behavioural advertising, or to consent to that processing to access the service without paying.