Ghana Tries To Regulate Online Prophecies (economist.com)
(Friday January 02, 2026 @11:00AM (msmash)
from the stranger-things dept.)
- Reference: 0180500885
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/01/02/0720202/ghana-tries-to-regulate-online-prophecies
- Source link: https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/12/30/ghana-tries-to-regulate-online-prophecies
Ghana has decided to deal with the viral spread of prophetic content on social media by [1]setting up an official reporting mechanism for sensitive predictions , a move triggered by the August 2025 helicopter crash that killed the country's defence and environment ministers along with six others.
After the accident, TikTok clips circulated showing pastors who claimed to have foreseen the disaster before it happened. Elvis Ankrah, the presidential envoy for inter-faith and ecumenical relations, now asks prophets to submit their predictions for review.
Charismatic preacher-prophets have been a fixture of Ghanaian public life since Pentecostalism arrived in the 1980s, but social media has amplified their reach and made their claims increasingly outlandish. Police have threatened to arrest prophets who cannot prove their predictions eventually came true. Some two-thirds of Ghanaians favor giving divine intervention a role in politics. Ankrah recently declared that most prophecies submitted to him are "total bunk."
[1] https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/12/30/ghana-tries-to-regulate-online-prophecies
After the accident, TikTok clips circulated showing pastors who claimed to have foreseen the disaster before it happened. Elvis Ankrah, the presidential envoy for inter-faith and ecumenical relations, now asks prophets to submit their predictions for review.
Charismatic preacher-prophets have been a fixture of Ghanaian public life since Pentecostalism arrived in the 1980s, but social media has amplified their reach and made their claims increasingly outlandish. Police have threatened to arrest prophets who cannot prove their predictions eventually came true. Some two-thirds of Ghanaians favor giving divine intervention a role in politics. Ankrah recently declared that most prophecies submitted to him are "total bunk."
[1] https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/12/30/ghana-tries-to-regulate-online-prophecies
Can we do it with AI? (Score:2)
by gurps_npc ( 621217 )
Require all AI to be approved before it is released.
Maybe get rid of those scumbags selling 'robotic dogs that fooled a veterinarian' that could not fool a toddler.
Is it finally time? (Score:2)
by GeekWithAKnife ( 2717871 )
Can we setup an electric monk to police stupid beliefs spread online?
Wasting brain power on believing completely foolish notions is really a job for AI.
With it's Markov chain prediction and no real sense of critical thinking or logic it should excel in conspiracy theories and stupid viral ideas.
Only most? (Score:3)
by Chelloveck ( 14643 )
> Ankrah recently declared that most prophecies submitted to him are "total bunk."
I'd be fascinated to know which ones weren't total bunk, and how he determined their legitimacy.
Confirmed: Ghana more progressive than america (Score:1)
If I have to hear one more prophecy about how we will make it to mars in 2026 or all cars will be automated by X, by the richest person in the world....