Dancehall artiste Shatta Wale has called on President John Dramani Mahama to adopt a balanced approach to dealing with abuse on social media without restricting people’s freedom of expression.
The ‘Freedom’ hitmaker known in private life as Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jr., made the call in an open letter to the President dated September 28.
His appeal comes after President Mahama called for a national stakeholder dialogue on the regulation of TikTok and other new media platforms.
At a town hall meeting with Ghanaians in New York on September 25, the President raised concerns about misinformation, insults and other challenges associated with the growing use of social media.
He subsequently called on the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) to lead discussions with relevant stakeholders on how best to regulate new media, including whether the police should have a role.
Reacting to the President’s call, Shatta Wale said Ghana needed rules that would promote responsible use of social media while protecting the rights of citizens to speak freely.
He said his position was influenced by his own experiences as a public figure who had faced what he described as unverified allegations and public ridicule.
According to him, online abuse was not created by social media but had existed in different forms before being amplified by platforms that allow people to instantly share information with large audiences.
He noted that the issue now affects not only celebrities but also traditional leaders, businesspeople, journalists, politicians, public officials and ordinary citizens.
Shatta Wale said while freedom of speech and freedom of the media were guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution, those rights should not be used as a justification for threats, harassment or the deliberate spread of false information.
He therefore proposed collaboration among Parliament, the Judiciary, security agencies, media organisations and civil society to develop clear laws covering serious cases of online abuse.
He said any such laws must provide due process and independent judicial oversight while protecting criticism, journalism, satire and political expression.
“Citizens should not be punished simply for criticising a President, public official or public figure,” he stated.
Another proposal is for social media platforms operating in Ghana to strengthen their account verification systems.
Shatta Wale suggested that the process could be linked to existing Ghana Card and SIM registration systems, while platforms could respond to lawful, court-approved requests to identify users accused of proven cases of harassment or defamation.
However, he opposed making anonymity a blanket requirement, arguing that there should be a distinction between legitimate anonymous expression and anonymity used to facilitate unlawful conduct.
On punishment, he called for proportionate sanctions where Parliament determines that certain online behaviour should be criminalised.
He suggested that short custodial sentences of not more than one month could be considered for specific offences, mainly to serve as a deterrent.
He also warned against introducing laws that could effectively bring back criminal libel, which Ghana repealed in 2001.
Shatta Wale further called for public education on responsible social media use and urged the government to include members of the creative industry in the discussions.
He said artistes and other players in the sector had first-hand experience with public commentary, entertainment reporting and online conversations and could therefore offer useful perspectives.
President Mahama has said he does not personally object to insults directed at him but has questioned how the country should respond to misinformation, threats and other harmful online content.
He has also expressed concern over some arrests allegedly linked to insults against him, saying he was not aware of many such arrests and was concerned about the reasons cited for some of them.
For Shatta Wale, the focus of any new framework should be accountability without silencing citizens.
“The goal is not to silence citizens, but to restore responsibility to our public conversation while preserving the freedoms on which our democracy stands,” he said.
He added that he was available to contribute to the proposed national dialogue on social media regulation.
