Governments at all levels have been urged to ensure the prompt dissemination of accurate information to prevent disinformation and Misinformation.
This was the position of a panel discussion on Misinformation and Disinformation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), organised by ECOWAS Parliament at their Second Extraordinary Session held in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, September 25.
One of the panellists, Dr Christian Odu, said the lack of information from the Government often led to misinformation by the public.
Dr Odu also called on the government to set a mechanism that would hold owners of social media platforms accountable for spreading disinformation.
“If they know that they will be held more accountable than the person using their platform, they will put strong mechanisms and that does not mean you are stifling freedom of information.”
“You are trying to create a platform that what is serving us for good will not turn around and bring evil for us.”
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“Those social media platforms are allowing people to post, sometimes they know the news is fake, but they allow it to fly because they want to get data they can use to do research. The government needs to come very strongly on social media.”
In his contribution, a member representing Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro at the Federal House of Representatives, Mr Awaji-inombek Abiante, noted that the lack of transparency in governance through credible and prompt information may lead to breakdown of law and order.
“To attract attention, people will put up whatever, whether it is true or false, to pressure you to do right.”
“If we can learn to be transparent in governance, open up our systems, and digitalise the processes so that information will be available.”
The panellists and participants at the Seminar agreed that adequate sensitisation should be carried out at the grassroots on the proper usage of Artificial Intelligence and verification of information to prevent fake news.
