The Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Malik Basintale, has advised young people to avoid taking photographs or recording videos of themselves during private and intimate moments.
According to him, creating such digital content can expose individuals to the risk of having their private videos and photos leaked online and circulated on social media without their consent.
His comments come amid growing public concern over the circulation of leaked intimate videos involving individuals, including some prominent personalities.
Basintale cautions youth over private videos
Speaking at the maiden National Youth Forum in Accra on Wednesday, August 19, Malik Basintale encouraged young people to protect their privacy by avoiding the creation of digital records of intimate encounters.
He said people can enjoy their private lives without producing videos or photographs that could later be copied, shared or distributed across social media platforms.
“Whatever you are doing in private is your business. We don’t want to know, and we don’t want to see your video, and we don’t want to see your picture,” Basintale said.
The YEA CEO stressed that once intimate content is digitally created, individuals may lose control over how and where the material is distributed.
Social media increases risk of leaked content
Basintale noted that previous generations also had private relationships but did not have access to smartphones and modern digital technology that could easily record and distribute personal moments.
He explained that the absence of such technology meant that many private experiences remained private and were not exposed to the public.
“People before us may have even done many things than we did, but they never took videos and they never took pictures, and so you and I do not even know what happened,” he said.
Youth urged to protect digital privacy
The YEA boss urged young people to exercise greater caution when using smartphones and social media, particularly when handling sensitive personal content.
He warned that digital files can be easily duplicated, transferred and circulated to a large audience within a short period.
Basintale’s advice forms part of wider calls for increased digital safety, online privacy and responsible social media use among Ghanaian youth.
He encouraged young people to think carefully about the potential consequences of creating intimate content, noting that material intended to remain private can eventually become public if it falls into the wrong hands.
Source: newsthemegh.com