Private legal practitioner Ace Anan Ankomah has admonished political parties and candidates to stop sending unsolicited messages to electronic users without their consent, citing the Electronic Transactions Act.
Speaking at a media breakfast meeting on responsible election reporting organized by the African Media Bureau, Ace Ankomah identified politicians as primary offenders and called for the inclusion of an “unsubscribe” option in campaign messages.
He stressed that senders must respect user preferences and disclose their identities when requested, emphasising the importance of ethical digital practices during elections.
“The Electronic Transaction Act, politicians listen to me. The two leading candidates, listen to me, the Electronic Transaction Act prohibits sending unsolicited electronic communications to a consumer without obtaining our prior consent. A mandatory option to unsubscribe; so when received there should be an unsubscribe option which is seen in the ones you get from abroad but the ones in Ghana have no unsubscribe option.
“Thus they bombard users with texts until they are blocked. Disclosure upon the customer’s request; ‘how did you get my phone number?’, the law demands that you tell us”, he stated.
Dr. Aurelia Ayisi, a Lecturer in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Ghana, also raised serious concerns about the growing prevalence of misinformation and disinformation in Ghana, particularly during the election season.
Speaking at the same event, Dr. Ayisi highlighted the alarming trend of misusing news cards from reputable media organizations to spread false information.
She emphasised that the surge in misleading content has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood. Dr. Ayisi’s research reveals a significant gap between information literacy and digital literacy, leaving many individuals susceptible to accepting inaccurate information without scrutiny.
She called on media organizations to prioritize verifying the accuracy of information before sharing it with the public, stressing their critical role in combating the spread of misinformation.
“Our research tells us that there’s a big gap between information literacy levels and digital literacy levels. But also media literacy levels, people have mobile phones, they’re able to open a meta account, X account and send email. But when they’re faced with issues, particularly with what we are seeing in the election cycle, Channel One TV for instance I think we call it a news card.
AMB Channel1 News Escalating disinformation highlights gap in digital literacy – Dr. Ayisi
“All over social media, you will see news cards of a credible media house, but some political actors have taken the media cards and have re-written what they want on them. If you are not media and information literate you will take it for it. And so it brings into question the credibility of what we have always known as the truth.
“And again the idea about how fast or how quickly should we be releasing news, right? Journalism has also prioritised the idea of pushing news first, breaking the news. But because of the ecosystem we find ourselves in, getting it right first has become more paramount, yes there are fact checkers who are in the ecosystem who are trying to make sure that the system is sanitised.
“Although the truth is there, it’s buried by an avalanche of misinformation/disinformation and malformation.”
Escalating disinformation highlights gap in digital literacy – Dr. Ayisi
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