CEO of Pop Out Ghana, Maximus Ametorgoh  has described the intention by the Ghana Police Service  to ban social media on  election day as an illegal and  inefficient way of policing public commentary on November 7.

The IT Consultant who was disappointed in the  idea by  the police,  said it is a lazy way of trying to  forestall any kind of misinformation  on the day.

“The idea should not be entertained. It doesn’t help our democratic credentials. How will  people express their views about what is going on that day,” he asked.

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He added that “There are already laws  policing the publication  of false information in the public domain, including social media. You can be prosecuted,” he said.

“ They should rather work to enforce those laws, rather than decide to shutdown social media use.”

The Ghana Police Service  in a press conference on Thursday revealed it is considering shutting down social media services in the country on election day, November 7.

According to the Inspector General of Police, John Kudalor, social media is a potential tool for fomenting violence based on the irresponsible use by political parties and a section of the public.

“At one stage I said that if it becomes critical on the eve and also on the election day, we shall block all social media as other countries have done. We’re thinking about it,” John Kudalor said.

However, Maximus Ametorgoh believes more can be done to curb irresponsible use of social media in the build- up to the elections, which will ensure that there will be no need for social media platforms to be shutdown on election day.

On how the Police can build enough capacity before the elections to properly police social media excesses without shutting down platforms, the CEO of Pop Out Ghana said,

“Setting up a social media data centre or powerhouse is very easy. There are software that can tour the entire social media platform looking  for key words and all that. And they can monitor all those things online. It is not rocket science.”