Two controversial home-made sex
videos, which went viral on social
this week, have been blocked from
being shared on Whatsapp in Ghana
alone, Adom News can confirm.
One of the videos allegedly involved
the children of two public
personalities. The girl involved is
said to be 15 years old.
The videos have been making the
rounds the whole week on several
social media platforms, including
Whatsapp. But throughout Friday, it
has been impossible to share the
video on Whatsapp alone.
Some phone users suspect the local
telcos deliberately blocked the
videos based on “orders from
above”.
Indeed, Adom News' attention was
brought to the matter because an
insider at one of the leading telcos
in the country called a journalist
and said “we have been instructed
to block that sex video” involving
the children of the public
personalities.
When Adom Newsroom staff tried to
share the video on Whatsapp across
all the five GSM networks in Ghana it
failed to be shared.
But on reaching the spokespersons
of the telcos on phone, they all
denied blocking the video on
Whatsapp, saying “it is not possible
for us to block the sharing of
content on Whatsapp.”
One explained that it was possible
someone with vested interest
reported the sharing of that
particular video directly to the
owners of Whatsapp, and they
blocked it from their base outside
Ghana.
“It could be because the video
involves a minor, someone reported
it to Whatsapp and they stopped it,”
another telco official said.
But Ghanaians living abroad, who
have those sex videos on their
phones, told Adom News they are
able to share the video among
themselves on Whatsapp in the UK,
USA and other parts of the world.
An IT expert also told Adom News
he suspects the local telcos may
have changed some codes in the
properties of the video making it
impossible to share on social
media.
He insisted that the blocking of the
video could not have been done by
Whatsapp since a transfer on
Whatsapp is possible in other
countries except Ghana.
“We are still trying various ways of
sending the video via Whatsapp –
we will let you know what we find,”
he said.
Some staff of the telcos also said
they tried various ways of resaving
and sending that video on Whatsapp
but it did not work.
Meanwhile, a customer service
official at one of the telcos said she
suspects one of the public officials,
whose son is allegedly involved in
one of the sex videos may have
pulled the strings to block the
video.
“I am sure the Minister in question
may have used his/her power to
block the video – this is Ghana and
that Minister only needs to make a
call for this thing to be blocked –
so please just manage with what
you have and stop spreading the
video,” she said.
Adom News also reached telecoms
regulator National Communications
Authority (NCA) and they said telcos
do not have control over content but
the law allows them to prevent the
spread of any content deemed
harmful to a minor, provided
someone makes a complaint.
The NCA is still not sure whether
anyone made a complaint to the
telcos, or the telcos indeed blocked
the video. But they said the law
empowers the telcos to protect
certain groups of persons when it
becomes necessary.
Adom News has sent email to
Whatsapp still in pursuit of answers
to why those videos are blocked in
Ghana alone, but could be shared on
Whatsapp anywhere else.
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