THE JFT EDIT

India’s plan to try to mandate the monitoring, interception and tracing of messages on social media has alarmed users and privacy activists – as well as the companies running the platforms. Prasanto K Roy looks at the potential impact of such a move.

The country’s information technology ministry will publish, by January 2020, a new set of rules for intermediaries: platforms that allow people to send, or share, messages. It is a sweeping term, which also includes e-commerce and many other types of apps and websites. The move is in response to an explosion of fake news that has caused mob violence and has even led to death. Most frequent were rumours about child kidnappers, circulated on WhatsApp and other platforms. Those messages, with no basis in fact, caused mobs to lynch innocent passers-by. Such “forwards” spread to tens of thousands of users in hours, and became nearly impossible to counter once they had spread.

In one example in 2018, the victim of mob violence was a man who had been employed by government officials to go around villages with a loudspeaker and tell locals not to believe rumours being spread on social media.

There are more than 50 documented cases of mob violence triggered by misinformation spread over social media in India in the last two years. Many platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, or Sharechat, a vernacular language social media start-up and app, play a role.

But the Facebook-owned WhatsApp is by far the most popular of the platforms. With India accounting for 400 million of its global base of 1.5 billion users, it ends up being the focus of discussions on the spread of misinformation. After a spate of rumour-driven mob violence in 2018, the government had asked WhatsApp to help halt the spread of “irresponsible and explosive messages” on its platform. The platform took several steps, including limiting the number of forwards allowed to five at a time, and putting a forwarded tag on those messages. Not enough, said the government, which now wants WhatsApp to use automated tools to monitor messages, as China does, to take down specific messages. It also wants the company to trace and report the original sender of a message or video.

India’s attorney general has told the Supreme Court in a related case that social media companies had “no business to enter the country and carry on if they can’t decrypt information for investigative agencies, in cases of sedition and pornography, among other crimes”.

“See, they’ve [social media companies] even gone to court to stop us,” a government official told me off the record. He added that online surveillance in China is far deeper and more sweeping. He is right about that: on its popular WeChat platform, messages famously disappear if they contain banned words.

WhatsApp says the steps it has taken are working. The labels and limits have reduced the number of forwarded messages on the platform by 25%, a spokesperson said. She added that the company actively bans two million accounts a month for “engaging in bulk or automated messaging”, and runs a big public education campaign that has reached hundreds of millions of Indians.

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The leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Kofi Akpaloo has said National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Mahama is not the right candidate for the NDC ahead of the 2020 elections.

According to him, if the hierarchy of the party does not change him they will lose the 2020 general elections. He argued that the NDC has a chance to “prevent another disaster in 2020” if they change their Presidential candidate. But speaking in an interview with Lawyer Ohene Djan on ‘Pae Mu Ka’ on Kingdom FM 107.7, Mr. Akpaloo said: “This is a candidate who registered the biggest defeat in Ghana’s history as an incumbent and he is not marketable but what will be his message in 2020”.

“Ghanaians certainly do not need such a clueless and visionless leadership. ” He, however, expressed concern about the message Mr. Mahama will use for his campaign since he recorded the biggest defeat in the last elections. However, he, therefore, appealed to the NDC, to change Mahama immediately or will face stiff competition to wrestle power from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He said the former president and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), failed to deliver on their promises to Ghanaians, mismanaged the economy, embezzled state funds hence should not be allowed to rule again. He appealed to Ghanaians to reject Mahama come 2020, adding that the NDC should never be an alternative.

According to him, the mismanagement under the NDC administration was so enormous that it plunged the nation into huge debts in the early 2000s.

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The Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, His Excellency Ambassador Olufemi Michael Abikoye has told their citizens particularly those doing businesses in Ghana to return home since the economy of Nigeria is now in a good shape

“Things are getting better in Nigeria and I can assure you. ..And I don’t see any reason why we should not be proud of Nigeria”, the High Commissioner admonished in a meeting with the members of the Nigeria Union of Traders Association Ghana (NUTAG) in Kumasi over the weekend covered by the reporter, Kwabena Danso-Dapaah.

Shops owned by Nigerians at Suame in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, were recently ransacked by raucous Ghanaian youths in the early hours of Wednesday, 19 June 2019 by the locals to register their displeasure against a decision by the Ghana Union Traders Association (GUTA) to reopen closed Nigerian retail shops.

“Anywhere in the world when you hear any two Black Men making an achievement, it is either the two are Nigerians or at least one other is Nigeria”, Excellency Ambassador Olufemi Michael Abikoye are Sensitization and Interactive Session with Ashanti Regional Security Council (RESEC) stated. Nigerian traders closed their shops temporarily on Friday, 14 June 2019 over what they described as attacks from their Ghanaian counterparts.

The Ghanaian traders argue that they are only enforcing the laws of Ghana which bar foreigners from engaging in the retail sub-sector, a preserve of Ghanaians.

The rampaging youth, who wore red bands and attires, also lit car tyres as part of their protest.

The Ghanaians also expressed anger about the kidnapping scourge in the country which involves Nigerian suspects.

They, therefore, resolved and threatened to deal with the Nigerians since the authorities have not been able to intervene in the matter.

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Kurt Okraku has been elected as the President of the Ghana Football Association after George Afriyie conceded defeat before the 3rd round.

The Dreams CEO got 59 votes whiles George Afriyie earned 43 votes in the 2nd round of elections. Nana Yaw Amponsah bagged the rest of the 16 votes. The Normalization Committee (NC) in charge of the elections will still go ahead of the 3rd round although the rest of the candidates have stepped down leaving Kurk Okraku. He will need the approval of over 50% of the delegates to become president. In round one of the GFA elections held at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the election saw Kurt Okraku lead the first round as he polled 44 votes with former Vice President George Afriyie earning 40 votes. Nana Yaw Amponsah who won many hearts following his brilliant performance at the debate had 27 votes, while Fred Pappoe managed 6 votes. Like Amanda Clinton, George Ankomah bagged no vote.

Prior to the elections, there were the Regional Football Associations and Executive Council elections with some shocking results giving credence to the famous ‘fear delegates’ quote. A potential injunction was hanging around the elections but just this morning, the Court of Arbitration for Sports, released a statement rejecting an appeal of injunction by disqualified candidate Wilfred Osei Kwaku Palmer. The position of GFA President has been vacant since 2018 when Kwesi Nyantakyi resigned following damning revelations in an exposé by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

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Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has in a laconic write-up on social media, stated that attempts by the National Democratic Congress( NDC) to present itself as an alternative to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are out of order because Ghanaians have not forgotten the mess of the party when it ruled.

“So soon, NDC thinks we’ve forgotten their mess in gov’t & wants to capitalise on the total failure of the NPP gov’t to come back,” the unwavering advocate for media freedom wrote in a post sighted by MyNewsGh.com.

His reaction comes in the wake of the inauguration of the NDC’s manifesto committee in Accra on Wednesday at which ceremony its flagbearer and former President John Mahama stated that the NDC was seeking power so as to rescue Ghana from the NPP incompetence.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been there before, I’ve experienced it, I’ve learnt useful lessons, I’ve reviewed issues and events and I’m coming back to you together with my party, the NDC, with what will be a practicable strategy for laying a solid foundation for the transformation of our country.”

“We are coming to give you hope and address your concerns and challenges because we feel your suffering and we believe in opportunity for all, not just a few as we are witnessing today,” the former President said.

NDC activists, on the strength of this declaration, are clamouring for a comeback of their party both on the mainstream media and social media.

But Mr Braimah seems to suggest that even with the total failure of the NPP, the NDC doesn’t appear to be the best alternative since it also messed up when it had the mandate.

Notwithstanding his argument, next year’s general elections will likely produce either of the two as winner given that the smaller parties don’t seem strong enough to cause an upset.

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