Shutting down fake social media pages will affect businesses - CDD's Kojo Asante to govt

• Kojo Asante, the Director of Policy and Advocacy at CDD-Ghana, said shutting down social media will affect businesses that trade online

• He also said engaging government on what to do about censoring fake news and information is key

• The two-day workshop is to help elaborate on which method to adopt to address the challenges of disinformation and misinformation’s being circulated across social media

Dr Kojo Asante, Director for Policy and Advocacy, Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has called on the government to take interest in striking the balance between shutting down social media pages that spread fake news and pages that do business.

According to him, it will go a long way in ensuring that people do not hide behind social media platforms and spew false information.

Speaking to the media, Asante said there are lots of opportunities social media presents which are positive, but the influx of the false information put out there by users makes it a threat to development and a peaceful electoral process.

“Government needs to take a serious interest in shutting down those who spread fake news on social media. You have already seen the government shutting down the internet or social media platforms but if you recall in my speech, I said the challenge is how we strike the balance; I think everybody recognizes both the threat but also the opportunities.

"Even if you think of it in economic terms, if you shut down Facebook the number who have just generated businesses or rely on that platform to do their business is huge, so the benefits are there but the threats are also there, so how do we strike the balance? And that has to do with not just the government but also the platform and those who control the platform like Facebook, WhatsApp among others...,” he said.

He also challenged the West African Election Observer Network (WAEON) and its member states holding the two-day workshop to come up with appropriate measures to deal with the threat the new media is posing to electoral processes in the sub-region.

The two-day workshop is being held from July 12, 2021, to July 13, 2021, on the theme ‘Enhancing the capacity of domestic election observer groups to address the challenges of electoral Disinformation and Misinformation.’