Kevin Ekow Baidoo Taylor, a social media communicator, alleged in October 2019, that the Akufo-Addo led administration through the National Communications Authority (NCA) is planning to shut down social media ahead of the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.
According to him, the NCA Boss Joseph Anokye, Asamoah Boateng, Daniel McKorley (McDan) and the Leba Brothers are working tirelessly to make sure that they rig the elections for President Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
This shut down, Kevin Taylor said, will affect the internet connectivity in the country before, during and after the 2020 elections.
“When the campaign starts, during the campaign and for election time, people will experience that Facebook has become slower with the help of the bandwidth manager. This will affect Instagram, Twitter and especially Facebook. A lot of Ghanaians will be struggling to get smooth running internet to either go live, post or upload photos to Facebook,” he stated on his Facebook live programme “With All Due Respect”.
Kevin Taylor, however, warned the NCA boss to desist from his intended plan else he will organise a very big demonstration against him.
“Mr Anokye if you are listening to me your credibility is on the line…if you dare start distracting the internet or Facebook I will personally come to Ghana, join my brothers and sisters and you will see one of the biggest youth uprisings…we will make sure that our democracy is protected,” he stressed.
The government on Monday, October 14, 2019 through the Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful debunked Kevin’s assertion that it will shut down all social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, ahead of the 2020 elections.
Ursula indicated that government had no plans of hacking the internet and therefore urged Ghanaians to disregard the report and treat it as fake news, which only existed in the flimsy imagination of persons like Kevin Ekow Baidoo Taylor.
Government confirmation
Fast forward to February 6, 2020, and Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has hinted that government might be compelled to regulate activities on the internet if citizens are unable to observe the ethics of the Internet including the respect for privacy online.
She said the move might be necessary due to the alarming rate of impersonation, fake news, misinformation, human downgrading, cybercrimes and social media abuse on the Internet.
“In certain countries, there have been calls for social media to be shut down because of its abuse but as I indicated in my speech, I don’t think that’s an option. However, we need to promote more responsible use of the internet to secure the privacy of all citizens online – children, the vulnerable – and to ensure that we do not overstep those bounds,” she said.
“If we don’t self-regulate, the state will be compelled to set in place the mechanisms to regulate our usage of the internet,” Ursula cautioned.
