The Minister for Information designate, Honourable. Fatimatu Abubakar has called on technology giants and App developers to support the Ministry as it begins to draft the National Action Plan to combat misinformation and disinformation.
She indicated that the impact of dis information and misinformation is more dangerous compared to that of COVID 19 and called on the App developer to explore the possibility of partnering the Ministry to work together to intensify the fight against the canker to bring some sanity online.
She made the appeal during a working visit by a team from TikTok earlier today at the Ministry ahead of the inaugural edition of its annual Safer internet Summit for Stakeholders across Sub–Saharan Africa in Accra on March 14, 2024.
Hon. Abubakar mentioned that Ghana’s online space is very vibrant with a lot of youths actively engaged online and there was the need to ensure online safety especially with children having access to the internet.
“About 35% of youth mostly hold engagements online and there is the need to harness the gains and make the platforms safe for them, Minister for Information designate highlighted.”
She called on the new Media Association of Ghana which supports individuals and organizations using content creation and online marketing to rally its support behind government to be able to formulate policies that will continue enhance free speech.
“This is very important to me, because it is when we get the support and collaboration of all those people, including the content creators, that is only when we make the laws, and because of their participation, there will be compliance”, she emphasized.
Hon. Abubakar indicated that COVID-19 exposed the dangerous impact of dis/misinformation and called on stakeholders to see it as a wakeup call to stem the tide.
For his part, the deputy minister designate for Information, Hon. Sylvester Tetteh underscored the huge market potential of tik tok for education and expressed government’s preparedness to harness the economic gains while it ensures sanity of the space. He also emphasized the need to take further discussions on formulating legislations to protect online users as well as leverage it for government communication
The Government Relations and Public Policy for Tik Tok in Nigeria and West Africa, Tokunbo Ibrahim in her address extoled the Ministry for its efforts in fighting disinformation online and encouraged synergy between Tik Tok and the Ministry to take the fight a notch higher, adding that online safety is a priority for Tik Tok.
“Tik Tok is committed to fight mis/disinformation and the need to keep the platform safe, Madam Tokumbo emphasized.”
“But also, we are very focused on fighting disinformation and misinformation. Generally, and particularly as regards to elections. Keeping the platform safe for our users is very important to us. And just over the next couple of days tomorrow, we will be posting in workshops for regulators and law enforcement in Ghana, where we are basically trying to teach them more about the app, as well as educate them on how it can report content that the offensive and content is illegal, Madam Tokumbo added.”
Source: MOI (PR Unit)
