Ghana’s Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says the passage of a law is needed to criminalise the spread of fake news on social media.
He said with the advent of social media “we have become participants of sharing false news.”
“We are all being used as news spreading outlet and nobody is taking responsibility to verify if it’s true or false,” he decried when he appeared before the appointments committee of Ghana’s parliament during his job interview.
In the past, he said broadcasters of news were held accountable for their content “but today because of the democratization of media everybody is sharing and nobody is taking responsibility.”
He said Ghana must go the Kenyan way by ferociously cracking down on fake news circulators.
“I share the view that we should begin to legislate against false news on social media,” he told the committee on 27 October.
“I am very open to that proposal,” he stressed.
What did Kenya do?
President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta earlier this year signed into law a bill to punish the spread of false information with the imposition of lengthy jail term.
The bill allows for a fine of up to $50.000, two years of jail term or both to be imposed on any individual who will deliberately disseminate false information on social media.
The Act, according to Mr. Kenyatta’s official website “provides for timely and effective detection, prohibition, prevention, response, investigation, and prosecution of computer and cybercrimes.”
It is called the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018, and its scope is large: The bill covers activity from cyber-bullying to child pornography, false publications and illegal monitoring of data.
Source: Africafeeds.com
