Papua New Guinea’s new ICT policies for National Digital Identity and Social Media are designed to address digital challenges of scammers, blackmailers and fake social media accounts-not politicians, according to a senior government official.
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary, Steven Matainaho has strongly defended the newly introduced interventions in the ICT space.
He made the public statement to defend the interventions in light of critics labelling is as the fulfillment of biblical prophesy or a tool designed to silence free speech, democracy and justice. Other critics say it was widely dismissed or failed in other countries overseas.
However, he said it was designed to protect ordinary Papua New Guineans; not politicians.
In a public statement, the Secretary expressed frustration over ongoing social media criticism, saying many of those opposing the policy have not even read it.
“As Secretary for ICT, I get calls every single day,” he said in a Facebook post. https://www.ict.gov.pg/90068/
“From an elderly villager scammed out of thousands of kina on Facebook, from a woman blackmailed with her private photos, and from young women lured under false pretence on social media — only to be raped.”
He said the government had previously been unable to act in such cases because there was no legal or policy framework to hold social media platforms or perpetrators accountable.
“Now that we finally introduce a Policy to protect the vulnerable, some loudmouths politicize it and accuse me of protecting politicians. Longlong olgeta! (That is crazy!),” he said.
The National Digital Identity and Social Media Policy aims to strengthen online safety, accountability, and data protection in Papua New Guinea’s fast-growing digital space, secretary Matainaho said.