“Some people are using social media, especially Facebook, to write letters insinuating that it is government officials issuing certain instructions which Government is not aware of,” the President said.
This is not the first time such concerns are being raised on the alleged cases of malicious use of social media in Zambia.
Thus the concerns by President Lungu are just part of the many other concerns also expressed by many ordinary citizens in Zambia.It is a fact that social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google+ etc have in recent years attracted millions of users.
A s s u c h , d i f f e r e n t organisations and individuals are now using such platforms for target-oriented advertising, marketing including political campaigns and mobilisation.
Social media networks have attracted worldwide attention because of their potential to reach millions of users.However, the potential of social media networks, such as Facebook, is often misused by malicious users who extract sensitive private information of users who are unaware of such acts.
One of the most common malicious uses of Facebook is the use of fake names/ profiles, where malicious users present themselves in profiles impersonating fictitious or real persons.
According to Facebook, 5 percent to 6 percent of registered Facebook accounts are fake accounts.
Facebook clearly states in their legal terms that users are not allowed to provide fake information and that they must keep their information up to date (Legal Terms 2012).
In recent years, there has been an increase in mobile phone subscription in many parts of the world.
Particularly in Zambia, ZICTA indicates that 12,017,034 people have mobile phone subscription representing a penetration rate of 74.93 percent.Thus, today an ordinary citizen in Zambia has access to a mobile phone and internet.This, therefore, means that access to social media platforms has even been made easier than ever before.
According to ZICTA, Zambia has a mobile Internet users’ subscription of 5,156,365 representing 32.15 percent penetration rate.Further the Internet World Stats (2017) estimates that 1,400,000 people in Zambia are Facebook subscribers as at June, 2016, representing 8.1 percent penetration rate. It is, thus, evident that a good proportion of the population in Zambia has access to Facebook.
However, the bigges t challenge with social media is that it lacks moderation on who should filter the content before it is posted for viewing to the general public.
Thus the lack of guidelines on how one uses social media platforms such as Facebook do not exist.
This is why such platforms have been prone to abuse by many unscrupulous users with fake identities.
ZICTA is an ICT Regulatory body responsible for regulating the ICT sector in Zambia.
It falls under the Ministry of Transport and Communications and derives its mandate from the three Acts; the Postal Services Act No. 22 of 2009, Electronic Communications and Transactions Act No. 21 and the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Act No. 15 of 2009 to regulate ICTs, postal and courier services in Zambia.
Therefore, as a regulatory body, ZICTA regulates; internet service providers (ISPs), postal and courier service providers; mobile network operators and electronic and communications equipment dealers in Zambia.Section 6 (2) (f) of the ICT Act empowers the Authority to regulate and promote the respective rights, interests and obligations of consumers, and purchasers of ICT/ telecommunications services.
This means that ZICTA is mandated to regulate any users of social media sites such as Facebook as they are part of ICT consumers in Zambia.
For instance, part of ZICTA’s policy on consumer protection states that “a consumer shall not post, transmit or submit through the service provider, any material which violates or infringes upon the rights of others.Any material which is unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, invasive of public or private rights, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable, which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability or violate the law or constitute spamming on the internet is also prohibited.”
Further, as the world continues to move towards the use of digital technology in this competitive global knowledge economy, the country should too, move towards investing in research in the sustainable and productive usage of digital technology and social media platforms such as Facebook.
Further, ZICTA, as a regulatory body of the ICT sector in Zambia, should create a lot of capacity in public sensitisation on the provision of guidance on codes of acceptable behaviour in the use of ICTs and social media tools, especially among young people, such as the training of pupils in schools and students on the responsible uses of social media.
