By Mohamed Issa

Social media being one of the fastest ways to transmit or disseminate information has been continuously and grossly misused by most people around the globe including Sierra Leone and has led loss of credibility in most of the information shared on the different platforms since the origin of its sources are completely unknown or unverified by its users, unlike traditional media were journalists are mandated by law cross-check their information before publishing them or face the consequences.

Social media on the other hand is not regulated like the traditional media.

In the aftermath of the Sunday November 26th, 2023 security breach at the Wilberforce military barracks where unknown armed men broke into the armory that resulted into exchange of fire with security forces, certain miscreants have since resorted to making mischief especially on social media misinforming the already frightened population by misrepresenting popular figures and misusing crest or logo of important organisations. This is a practical example of the difference between the two media outlets.

The latest being the misuse of the Sierra Leone Police crest, symbol or logo which these bad elements had used to publish “false wanted list” of the assailants and the prisoners who were freed by the former.

This is not the first time unpatriotic and unprogressive elements are finding pleasure in carrying out their nefarious acts, illicitly using organisation’s crests as well as impersonating reputable people to extort money from unsuspecting public.

One of the two country’s renowned journalists BBC stringer and former president of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) Mr. Umaru Fofana and former editor of Politico newspaper Kemo Cham have all fallen victims of this evil acts using their names to disseminate incorrect information creating unnecessary fear and panic in people, as they were forced to swiftly discredit such misleading claims and warned the public to beware of these miscreants as they are bent on destroying the good reputation of decent people, noting that such is unpatriotic and unprofessional.

It’s against this backdrop people and organizations especially the police must step up their vigilance to nip in the bud such bad attitude. What is more annoying is the ineptitude of the law enforcement body that always treats cases of those numerous defaulters with levity whenever they are in the net. The fact remains that very few in this country know that impersonation and dissemination of false news is a crime. Because even the cyber law is not only new but  unrecognized by many citizens in this country , which is why they have no or very little fear about trampling upon it with impunity at any time. In fact, the notorious habit of spreading false news is celebrated heavily within our political cycle where politicians think that it is one way to destroy their opponents to gain more support from the gullible and ill- informed people. And the most disgusting issue is as long as they receive the news from the sources that they used to get, they will never bother to verify it and any attempt to correct them they will consider you as a fake propagandist. The answer is written on the wall in recent days about the danger of misuse of social media in Sierra Leone. The only way is for government to put strong modalities in place to institute stringent laws to deter the rampant misuse of this very vital instrument in our country.