The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has called for the strengthening of Ghana's cybersecurity laws to address the rising incidence of online-gender based violence (OGBV) in the country.
While the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038) primarily focuses on regulating cybersecurity activities, securing the nation's cyberspace and protecting critical information infrastructure, it does not specifically address OGBV thereby making many women vulnerable to online abuse without adequate legal protection, access to justice and support services.
Presenting findings of a research on OGBV against female politicians in Ghana at a public forum on countering OGBV in Accra yesterday, the Programme Director, Freedom of Expression and Digital Rights at the MFWA, Dora Boamah Mawutor, urged the government to amend the law to include clear provisions against OGBV ensuring that victims have necessary legal recourse and protection. "There is a need for a government policy specifically targeted at addressing OGBV and it is high time Ghana's Cybersecurity Act is expanded to cover all forms of OGBV issues," she urged.
Conducted between August 2024 and March 2025, the study which monitored about 56 accounts of female politicians across four social media platforms including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Instagram, recorded 583 incidents of OGBV.
