Politics

Curb social media abuse – Mpombo

By KALOBWE BWALYA

THERE is urgent need to clean up the cyberspace by implementing laws that guard against social media abuses, former Defence minister George Mpombo has said.

Dr Mpombo said peddling of falsehoods and derogatory statements that tarnished the image of other citizens had become the order of the day on social media.

He said social media was now marred with character assassination of both  individuals and institutions.

 Dr Mpombo said in an interview that there was need to seriously guard against the spreading of  misleading and false information on social media.

He urged the new dawn government to enforce laws that guard against social media abuses.

“It is sad that social media users have now taken everything as child’s play, Government should quickly move in and enforce  cyber laws to stop the rot,” Dr Mpombo said.

He said social media abuse had reached alarming levels, saying that hard core criminals were now swindling unsuspecting citizens out of their hard earned resources.

Dr Mpombo also expressed concern over a fake story that had gone viral suggesting that the Road Transport and safety Agency (RTSA) had made changes to procedures of handling traffic cases.

Meanwhile, RTSA Head-Public Relations Fredrick Mubanga has dismissed a story circulating on social media which suggested changes to procedure in handling traffic cases.

Mr Mubanga said while RTSA acknowledged that the fast track court for traffic offences was initiated in 2013 to prosecute persons violating traffic rules and regulations, only traffic violations above the threshold of 1500 penalty units (K450.00) were administered through the fast track court.

He said those below the threshold were managed through the payment of admission of guilt procedure.

Mr Mubanga called on members of the public to treat the statement circulating on social media as null and void.

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