Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, Sam George, has revealed he considered shutting down the internet in Ghana to stop the spread of graphic crash videos following the recent military helicopter disaster.
Sam George explained that upon seeing the the disturbing footage circulating on the internet from the crash, he almost shut down the internet in the counrty to put an end to it.
“I was faced as Minister for Communications with two options. One was to shut down the internet in the country to prevent further spread of the videos,” he recounted on Joy news morning show on August 12.
At the time, government had not made a formal announcement to the families of the victims, and he feared for the mental health of the kids and the spouses.
However, Sam George said cutting internet access would have caused its own problems. “That would’ve come with its own consequences because most of you stream the news,” he noted, adding that the ripple effect could have been worse than the original problem.
Instead, he immediately contacted senior vice presidents at Meta to see what could be done and activated a Point of Contact the government had with the company.
He also reached out to the National Communications Authority to coordinate with telecommunication company CEOs.
Within two hours, about 30 million text messages were sent to the public, urging restraint in sharing the videos.
“The telecommunication companies bore the cost for this,” he said expressing gratitude to the telecommunication companies namely MTN, Telecel and AirtelTigo.
