Collins Sefa 
Ghana’s Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Hon. Samuel Nartey George
Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, has strongly condemned the rise of sexually explicit content on TikTok, calling it “completely unacceptable” and contrary to Ghanaian cultural values.
Speaking at a ministerial press briefing in Accra on the second-quarter digital sector developments, Mr. George warned that government would take decisive steps to curb adult content on the platform.
“Live sex and explicit material on TikTok are completely unacceptable and against our culture and our norms,” he said. “These were part of the conversations I held with TikTok’s team to ensure content moderation in-country.”
Mr. George revealed that he met TikTok’s West African government relations team on June 26, pressing for stricter moderation measures, including the establishment of a Ghana-based content moderation unit. This team, he explained, would better understand and enforce the nation’s cultural and moral boundaries compared to global moderation systems.
He also proposed the creation of a local content governance framework to align TikTok’s operations with Ghanaian regulations and protect minors and vulnerable groups.
“We cannot allow foreign digital platforms to become unregulated zones where anything goes. If we value our cultural identity and the safety of our youth, we must act — and we will act,” Mr. George stressed.
To enforce this, the Cybersecurity Authority will monitor TikTok content in real-time and flag explicit or offensive material, with violators facing account bans.
The crackdown is part of the government’s wider digital sanitation campaign, which aims to address the psychological, moral, and social impact of unfiltered online content on youth.
Despite the tough stance on explicit content, the minister commended TikTok’s STEM-focused content feed, urging its integration with the One Million Coders Initiative to equip young Ghanaians with digital skills. He also called on TikTok to ensure fair monetisation for Ghanaian creators, whose content drives the platform’s reach and revenue.
“Our creators deserve fair value for the traffic they drive and the cultural export they enable,” he added.
