Samuel Nartey George, Minister for Communications, Digitalisation, and Innovations and Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, has called for a unified African digital policy to regulate multinational tech platforms more effectively.
Speaking at Parliament proceedings on February 5, 2025, he emphasized the importance of a collective African approach in addressing digital security and data protection challenges.
“At the ministry, one of the key things we’re going to be looking to do in the next few weeks is to strengthen our multilateral and bilateral arrangements using our focal persons,” he stated. He pointed out that many of the major digital platforms, such as Meta, operate externally and that Ghana has already begun consultations with their African representatives to enhance cooperation.
Highlighting personal experiences with online impersonation, he revealed that in a span of 24 hours, Facebook took down 25 fake accounts created in his name, only for more to appear within 48 hours. “Facebook takes it down, you complain, a new one is put up,” he noted, expressing frustration over the tech giant’s inconsistent responses to content removal requests.
Samuel George stressed that the challenge is not unique to Ghana and requires a broader, continent-wide regulatory framework. He urged Ghana to take the lead in advocating for a strong African data protection regime, similar to Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
“Europe, even as a continent, doesn’t deal with these tech platforms as individual countries. The GDPR is a Europe-wide regulation that has the weight of all European countries backing it,” he explained. “We need to have at least an ECOWAS framework or an AU framework that will then compel Meta.”
He pointed out that while institutions like the U.S. Congress and the EU Parliament have the influence to summon tech companies for accountability, individual African countries struggle to do so. However, a unified African stance could shift the power dynamics and ensure that multinational tech companies adhere to stronger digital governance standards on the continent.
