The framing up of Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur in relation to a purported counter-lecture to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s diagnosis of the economy is proof enough that social media needs to be regulated, security analyst Irbard Ibrahim has said.
For him, the frame-up is “a harbinger of worse things to come” as far as the “abuse and misuse of social media” is concerned if nothing is done about it.
False information had been circulating on social media that the vice president will address a section of the public on Thursday September 15 and give responses to the arguments raised by the vice-presidential nominee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a recent lecture.
The Election 2016 Peace Ambassador believes the circulation of such false information highlights some of the ways social media can be used for negative publications as the country heads to the polls on December 7.
Even though the president has stated categorically that government has no intentions to shut down social media on Election Day, Mr Irbard maintains: “The use of such a powerful tool to sway public opinion could pose a serious security challenge for us on December 7.”
He feels “to do nothing about social media in the face of such a deluge of abuse and misuse is to leave a window open for the fabrication and dissemination of false events and electoral results through photoshopping and cloning of credible websites”, hence serious action, in his estimation, must be taken to crack down on miscreants on social media.
“Ghana must regulate social media traffic on Election Day to avoid potential chaos and mobilisation for violence,” he emphasised.
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