President John Dramani Mahama has called for regulations to govern social media use in Ghana, warning that an unregulated space with hate speech could incite violence and threaten national peace and unity.
During his first encounter with the media since taking office in January 2025, the president fielded a range of questions on the economy, illegal small-scale mining (galamsey), tourism, security and diplomacy.
During the event at Jubilee House on September 10, 2025, Angel TV journalist Saddick Adams asked about social media accounts promoting inflammatory tribal and ethnic sentiments and inquired about the measures taken by the government to protect national unity.
In response, President Mahama said new media platforms, such as TikTok, Facebook and X, required to be regulated despite the potential they present in terms of citizen journalism. He, however, lamented how social media platforms have become places where anonymity fuels hate speech and incitement of violence.
“We have a new crop… I call them new journalists. Anybody with a phone and a camera can report news or comment on national issues. Now the point is, who holds those people responsible?
“If you go to some of the WhatsApp platforms or you go to some of the commentaries in the TikTok and others, we have what we call hate speech, incitement to violence, those are criminal. Despite the fact that we have removed the criminal libel laws, there are some laws that make such people accountable,” he said.
He noted that social media hate speech could trigger violent conflicts, pointing to inflammatory statements linked to conflicts in Ghana’s north.
“If we don’t regulate that sector, it can lead this nation to war. There are some of the incendiary statements that have been made in the Bawku situation that are fueling some of what is happening there, making people hate each other and see each other as enemies. It has been the same in the Gonja-Brifor thing. Some people are fanning and inciting violence against each other.”
President Mahama further revealed that the National Signals Bureau (NSB) has been tasked with monitoring and tracking individuals who engage in online hate speech, using IP addresses. Such individuals, he stressed, would be prosecuted under Ghana’s criminal code.
“We must start making regulations for this new media because it’s unregulated. And so anybody just takes a phone and says, oh this plane crash, I wish that so so and so had been the one in the helicopter and had died and dwarfs have eaten him in the forest. I mean, why would you say something like that? And so we need regulation for that new emerging media,” he stressed.
Mis/disinformation Bill in the works – Communication Minister
This call for regulation comes as the government works on a broader legal framework to address harmful digital content.
In July 2025, the Minister of Communication, Digital Technology, and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, announced that the government was set to introduce the National Misinformation and Disinformation Bill to Parliament.
He stated that the Bill will “strengthen legal safeguards against the deliberate creation and spread of false or harmful digital content.”
By Nusrat Essah
