Many Loop PNG readers think the Cybercrime Act is a National Government plot to censor public comments on social media.
The National Parliament in 2016 passed the Act making it a crime to make unproven allegations about individuals using any information technology medium.
However, the National Information and Communication Technology Authority (NICTA) CEO Charles Punaha brush aside the censorship claims.
Punaha said the new Cybercrime Act is not a form of censorship in Papua New Guinea.
These are some of the comments on our news site.
“It is censorship your highness. You are telling us to watch our mouths when criticizing publicly elected officials - a norm in any democracy. Isn't that the same as prohibiting people from watching certain movies, etc?” a reader stated.
“People or so called leaders are pushing around to have media under their control is to protect themselves from their corrupt practises so where does this freedom of speech comes in play, shame on you leaders for pushing this agenda around to pass that law,” Arnold Mara commented.
“We need freedom of speech in our country!! We all know that the media in PNG is being controlled by the Government, we need social media to expose corruption and the truth on our Parliamentarians and Senior Public servants’ immoral and unethical behaviours,” another reader commented.