According
to the Wikipedia online dictionary, Media can be said to be tools used to
store and deliver information or data. The importance of media in any given
country can never be under estimated due to the power it wields depending on
how it is used. It has the power to make an innocent man look guilty and a
guilty man look innocent. Radio, television and print are some of the
components of media and are considered or known as traditional media. However,
the emergence of the internet in recent times, has given birth to a new form of
media knows as social media. Wikipedia online dictionary also defines social
media as Social media refers to
the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and
exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Andreas
Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of
Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological
foundations of Web 2.0,
and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Social media
depends on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive
platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss,
and modify user-generated content. It introduces substantial and pervasive
changes to communication between organizations, communities and individuals.
Examples of social media include facebook, twitter, linkedin.
The
legal regime in Ghana which is the 1992 constitution has not set parameters for
the activities of social media. This is because at the time the constitution
was written, social media did not exist and therefore there was no need to set
those parameters. However even though the constitution has put forth guidelines
and regulations upon which the traditional media i.e radio, television and
print should operate, some of these mechanisms indirectly influence the
activities of social media. Since the constitution has not set forth parameters
for the activities of social media, there have been challenges with the
regulation of these activities. Some of these challenges are:
Firstly,
it is difficult to monitor how information is posted on social media networks.
This is because now with the evolution of mobile internet and how wide
globalization has spread, it is difficult to monitor the flow of information on
the social networks. While someone sits in his office in China to post a
picture, someone also in his garage can equally do same. Even though the owners
of such networks could try and keep an eye on activities, it would still be
difficult since information flows from all over the world. It may however be
noted that due to the challenge of regulating such activities, the owners of
social media platforms always issue disclaimers to what people post so that
they wouldn’t have to take responsibility to whatever is posted on their
platform.
The
second challenge is that in Ghana, there are no proper ways of monitoring how
the internet and other social media platforms are used. This is because the use
of social media in Ghana like a burrowed culture and since the invention and
the origination of internet did not start from Ghana, the country as a whole
does not have a proper mechanism for checking such activities. Also, since
there are no punishments spelt out in the constitution to punish people who
post pictures of other information on such websites that seek to defame others,
people don’t usually care about the implications of what they post there
thereby making social media look as if it’s not law abiding.
Thirdly,
since the constitution has not laid down guidelines for the activities of
social media, it creates a challenge in the sense that there is no form of
frame work for the authorities to work on. And once there is no framework there
can never be a task force or anything for the authorities to lean on a work. Unlike
in article 162 clause 6 of the 1992
constitution which states that ‘any medium for the dissemination of information
to the public which publishes a statement about or against any person shall be
obliged to publish a rejoinder, if any from the person in respect of whom the
publication was made.’ It must be noted that there are no such provisions when
it comes to the use of social media. It is for this reason that most social
network operators such facebook, twitter, linkedin and other networks issue
disclaimers to distance themselves from what users usually post there.
Based
on the above mentioned challenges, the following recommendations have been
suggested.
Firstly,
in order to create a law abiding social media, there should be an amendment of
the 1992 constitution to set parameters for the use of social media. It should
make provisions and set up rules and regulations for the use of social media.
When this is done, it would go a long way to make people more responsible for
what they post online.
Secondly,
all stakeholders such as communication authorities, telecom operators as well
as the Government must be able to invest in creating infrastructural framework
that would help in monitoring activities of social media users as well as be
able to track them. Some of these infrastructure should include software for
tracking internet users as well as coordinating with the communication agencies
to be able to take actions against their customers who violate the terms and
conditions that have been set forth concerning the use of the internet as a
whole.
Again,
in order to create a law abiding social media, users of social media need to
take responsibility between right and wrong, what is worth posting and what is
not. They need to let their conciense make that judgement call. Also the regard
for culture and societal norms should also help in creating a law abiding
social media. This is because if users in Ghana are able to identify things
that are socially and culturally acceptable, they just won’t be posting
anything they like. An example is someone posting a photoshoped image of
President Mahama on facebook which is not acceptable in our culture and society
as a whole.
I
hope with the above mentioned recommendations, Ghana will be able to create a
law abiding social media.
No comments:
Post a Comment