{"id":225508,"date":"2016-06-27T06:40:11","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T06:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=225508"},"modified":"2016-06-27T06:40:11","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T06:40:11","slug":"police-backtrack-on-social-media-ban-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/06\/police-backtrack-on-social-media-ban-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"We may not ban social media &#8211; Cephas Arthur"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ghana Police Service has clarified its position on the controversial plan to ban social media on Election Day.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Communications Director of the Police, the ban was one of the alternatives under consideration but the Police will not shutdown social media on November 7, the day of Ghana\u2019s general elections.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Inspector General of Police, John Kudalor had earlier suggested that a <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/05\/26\/ppolice-to-shut-down-social-media-on-election-day\/\"><strong>social media blackout<\/strong><\/a><\/span> on November 7 was being considered as a way to \u00a0counter the activities of potential &#8216;troublemakers&#8217; who might disrupt the election process using\u00a0these platforms.<\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;x4yIyzN2EwxLCWSUKrZGjQvyz6M3wJrI&#8221;]\u201cAt one stage I said that if it becomes critical on the eve and also on the election day, we shall block all social media as other countries have done. We\u2019re thinking about it,\u201d John Kudalor had said.<\/p>\n<p>However, speaking at Blogging Ghana&#8217;s Blog camp on Saturday, the Director of Communications at the Police Service, Cephas Arthur said the\u00a0IGP made the comments\u00a0on the spur of the moment and that there were no plans in place to ban social media on\u00a0November 7.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The IGP used the word alternatives but it looks as if nobody heard the other alternatives that he mentioned because nobody is discussing that. This was not part of his speech. It was a kind of off the top of his head answer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Let us not be alarmed. The IGP is not about to block social media on election day and we are going to have our social media,&#8221; Cephas Arthur said.<\/p>\n<p>The IGP&#8217;s\u00a0comments had generated widespread criticism from the general public who felt such an action would represent suppression of freedom of speech.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-217337\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/kudalor-1.jpg\" alt=\"kudalor (1)\" width=\"535\" height=\"330\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Several bodies including the\u00a0Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), the <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/05\/27\/social-media-ban-police-cant-suppress-freedom-of-speech-afag\/\"><strong>Alliance for Accountable Governance<\/strong><\/a><\/span> (AFAG) BloggingGhana, and \u00a0PenPlusBytes have criticised the Police Chief&#8217;s words describing the idea as &#8216;undemocratic.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations (UN) has also <a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/06\/18\/un-against-social-media-ban-on-election-day-ibn-chambas\/\"><span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong>waded into the debate<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, stating that they would oppose any attempt to block social media ahead of the elections.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-217407\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/20150806171757-social-media-iphone-apple-twitter-facebook-instagram.jpeg\" alt=\"20150806171757-social-media-iphone-apple-twitter-facebook-instagram\" width=\"650\" height=\"365\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The special representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohammed\u00a0Ibn Chambas said:\u00a0\u201cI should say without hesitation that from a UN point of view, we would be obviously averse to any steps that will amount to restricting the democratic space, particularly any steps that will be taken to restrict the freedom of expression.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Cephas Arthur admitted that the Service&#8217;s visibility in terms of the online space was negligible but added that steps had been taken to address the situation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you went to our site, you\u2019ll see some inactive social media outlets. We were present, somehow. With ICT advancements, the administration is putting measures in place to ensure that we are also strongly represented there,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s something that we are working hard at and with the recent issue of abusing social media and having the likelihood of checking out information that could cause problems, the administration is doubling up and a lot is being done to permanently have a very strong presence on the social media front. So I can assure you that we are there, we are working hard and very soon you will see that we are strongly represented and it will be like that forever and we\u2019ll keep on improving and changing with changing times.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source: Ghana Decides<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ghana Police Service has clarified its position on the controversial plan to ban social media on Election Day. According to the Communications Director of the Police, the ban was one of the alternatives under consideration but the Police will not shutdown social media on November 7, the day of Ghana\u2019s general elections. The\u00a0Inspector General [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>We may not ban social media - Cephas Arthur - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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