By Mavis Paintsil and Josephine Tetteh, Accra
The Director General of UNNESCO Mrs Audrey Azoulay has advised youth to adopt digital security practices for fact checking and preventing disinformation. She stressed the need of utilising digital tools like artificial intelligence (A1) cyber security monitoring for effective facts finding and cross-referencing information.
Then director said this in a speech read on her behalf by Mr Carl Ampah, the Programs Officer UNESCO at the Youth Against Disinformation conferences She said, the dual native of rapid digital transformation offered immense opportunities and posed challenges like misinformation, hate speech, gender stereotyping and privacy issues
She noted that Ghana’s electoral periods often saw a surge in disinformation with both political and non- political figures spreading false narratives about opponent’s, creating a landscape where youth are exposed to misleading information, significantly influencing their voting decisions.
The executive Director of Penplusbytes, Mr Jerry Sam also said that his organization had launched several digital platforms aimed at facts checking information during electoral periods.
Mr Sam stressed the importance of government action to address the rising disinformation during elections, noting that such misinformation poses a threat to the social cohesion of the country.
The Director for Programmes, Dr Imurana Mohammed, who is at the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), stressed the critical issue of disinformation in Ghana,especially during elections.
The director said, the spread of misleading information was worsened by young people not utilising available initiatives to enhance their understanding of disinformation, she added.
She also encouraged the youth to build capacity to navigate the complex information landscape ” for every election cycle,there are many instances that l see disinformation and misinformation by political actors in the country,she continued.of we take advantage of such capacity building initiatives it will enable us to put ourselves at the forefront of the fight against disinformation, she said
