Arrest people who spread lies on Facebook

President Peter Mutharika’s alleged illness which gathered momentum on Facebook has spurred some activists to bay for regulation on the use of the Internet.

One of the country’s activists has urged government to regulate social media in the country saying it is bringing confusion to most Malawians.

The activist, Billy Banda who is Executive Director for Malawi Watch, said it is an insult to see Malawians through social media spreading what he called lies on the health of Mutharika.

This is coming at a time when Malawians have been using social media to speculate on the health of President Peter Mutharika due to communication blackout from State House.

But Banda said one cannot mock his or her father on his health so what has happened through social media is totally wrong hence the need to introduce a new laws to regulate what people discuss on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

”There is a bigger challenge as the social media is spreading wrong information especially on the health of the head of state,” said Banda.

He added that there is a greater need to introduce a law that regulates the use of social media to avoid such speculations in future.

According to Banda, when Malawians are on social media they should concentrate on issues that can build Malawi not destroy it so the new law would stop all this.

In February, Mutharika also revealed his concern over the use of social media in the country, saying Malawi was becoming too reliant on social media.