Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, has encouraged the House to create and enact a new law that would forbid minors under the age of 16 from accessing and using social media.
According to the rule, violating parents or guardians who allow their children to access dangerous social media information or open social media accounts must pay severe fines, the official added.
Mr Afenyo-Markin urged lawmakers, parents, and other stakeholders to step up efforts and measures to protect kids, especially those under 16, from early social media use and consumption in a statement he gave in front of the legislature on the need for Ghana to intensify efforts to crack down on young children using social media.
Additionally, he requested that Parliament instruct the interior, communications, and digitalization, as well as the gender, children, and social protection ministries, to expedite their work on creating a comprehensive online child protection policy to adopt and put into practice as soon as possible.
"Parliament must lead an amendment to the Cyber Security Act 2020 to require the Cyber Security Authority to submit separate biannual reports to the House for consideration and subsequent action on detailed measures it had taken to specifically protect children from the detrimental effects of social media use and consumption," he said.
Influence
The comment was delivered on the floor of the legislature by Mr Afenyo-Markin, who is also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) representative for the Effutu Constituency in the Central Region.
The House last Friday also presented a grim picture of how children in Ghana are at great risk for the present and future due to the "dangerous, hazardous use and consumption" of social media.
We cannot raise our hands in the air as a country. To tame or vanquish such bad thoughts, we must face the issue head-on by adopting proactive measures, such as drafting suitable laws and developing relevant legal frameworks, the speaker stated.
According to Mr Afenyo-Markin, who supported his claim with statistics, as of October 2021, there were more than 4.5 billion social media users worldwide.
According to him, social media platforms might be useful resources for both adults and children to get essential knowledge, develop new and essential talents, and consume By ethical social media marketing and content development, one may create useful news material and perhaps make a career.
Yet he said that it was a sad fact that the Internet wasn't always useful.
In fact, he claimed, "social media platforms on the Internet have evolved into very harmful and destructive tools and platforms used by perverts belonging to the evil fringes of society to target, victimise, radicalise, and destroy the present and future of innocent or curious or unsuspecting children."
He highlighted research that showed that some of the biggest drawbacks of students' usage of social media include distraction from their schoolwork, frequent use of Pidgin English, and unneeded fashion consciousness.
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