It’s time to mark your calendars for the annual Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica), the largest gathering on digital rights on the continent. The 2024 edition will be held on September 25-27 and as in previous years will align with the commemoration of the annual International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI).
FIFAfrica sets the stage for concerted efforts to advance digital rights in Africa and promote the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance. It places internet freedom directly on the agendas of key stakeholders, including policymakers, journalists, activists, global platform operators, telecommunications companies, regulators, human rights defenders, academia, and law enforcement.
Now in its 11th year, FIFAfrica has grown to serve as a vital response to the mounting obstacles facing digital democracy in Africa, including arrests and intimidation of online users, internet disruptions, and regressive laws that stifle the potential of digital technology to catalyse socio-economic and political development on the continent.
This year, FIFAfrica24 will serve as a key channel that informs the way ahead for digital democracy in Africa and the role that different stakeholders need to play to realise the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa and Declaration 15 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Declaration notes that the spread of information and communications technology and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide and develop knowledge societies.
FIFAfrica offers something for everyone! Be sure to save the date and don’t miss this chance to be part of the #InternetFreedomAfrica movement dedicated to protecting and promoting internet freedom across the continent.
Stay tuned for more details and registration information!
As part of efforts to build digital rights movements in Africa that are impactful and sustainable, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) trained civil society organisations (CSOs) from Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe on digital rights advocacy and campaigning. The training, which was conducted February 6-7, 2024, in Dakar, Senegal, featured sessions on methodologies for tech accountability, campaign planning and strategies, impact communications, and media relations. The training also featured experience-sharing sessions on stakeholder engagement by the Global Network Initiative (GNI) and the Senegalese Personal Data Protection Commission (CDP).
The training included participants from the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME), Internet Society Lesotho Chapter, Digital Agenda for Tanzania Initiative, as well as the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Mozambique and Zimbabwe chapters – all Local Partners of the Global Internet Freedom (GIF) program, an initiative of Internews. The partners are implementing various interventions aimed at promoting in-country stakeholder engagements on digital rights issues, particularly digital identity and data protection. As a Regional Partner for GIF, CIPESA’s role is to coordinate activity implementation by the local partners, support learning and exchange among the partners, as well as support their network building, including through the annual Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica).
The Local Partners’ advocacy initiatives are expected to leverage the Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index Key findings and recommendations. The index analyses the policies and practices of eight leading telecommunications companies operating across four African countries — Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and the resultant effects of these policies on freedom of expression and privacy.
“Existing research, such as that by Ranking Digital Rights and CIPESA’s annual report on the State of Internet Freedom in Africa, are critical resources that provide an overview of the continent’s landscape and support our conduct of evidence-based advocacy engagements with government actors and telecommunication companies,” noted Apolo Kakaire, Communication and Advocacy Manager, ACME, Uganda.
Similarly, networks and alliances such as the GNI, of which CIPESA is a member, alongside internet and telecommunications companies, human rights groups, investors, and academic institutions, are strategic alliances for advocacy engagements. “We have relationships with some of the telecom companies you [CSOs] are likely to engage and pledge support for outreach to their global and national offices as needed, ” said GNI’s Program and Operations Associate Montserrat Legorreta.
Indeed, as stated by Peter Mmbando from Digital Agenda for Tanzania Initiative, local CSOs experience challenges engaging with telecom companies. “We often invite them to engagements, but they don’t show up. Support from GNI to get the telecom giants in the rooms will be highly appreciated,” said Mmbabo.
The interventions of the six trained CSOs are expected to promote increased knowledge of internet freedom issues and advance human rights in the digital space in their respective countries.
By Abdou Aziz Cissé, Laïty Ndiaye and CIPESA Staff Writer |
The postponement of Senegal’s presidential elections in February 2024 escalated political tensions in the west African country. In response, the Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy suspended access to mobile internet, first on February 5 as parliament debated the extension of President Macky Sall’s tenure, and again on February 13 amidst civil society-led protests. The ministry claimed that social media platforms were fuelling the dissemination of “several subversive hate messages” that incited violence.
The February 2024 restrictions on access to mobile internet were the third instance of network disruptions in the country, which had in the past kept the internet accessible during pivotal moments including elections. Last year, Senegal restricted access to the internet and banned TikTok, amidst opposition protests.
It is against this backdrop that the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), in partnership with AfricTivistes, organised a workshop on platform accountability and content moderation on February 8, 2024. The workshop held in the capital Dakar examined the efficacy and impact of content moderation and discussed the opportunities for stakeholder collaboration and common approaches for advancing internet freedom in Senegal.
As at September 2023, there were over 18 million internet subscribers in Senegal. Participants at the workshop acknowledged that the growth in user numbers had fueled online disinformation and hate speech, which are threatening social cohesion. However, they also raised concerns about the disproportionate responses, notably network disruptions instituted by the government, which undermine freedom of expression, access to information and citizen participation.
According to Ababacar Diop, a Commissioner with the Personal Data Protection Commission (CDP), efforts to curb the spread of harmful and illegal content online had seen the Commission partner with popular social media platforms to explore mechanisms to effectively regulate content. He added, however, that since the platforms are not domiciled in Senegal, the partnership’s effect has been limited. Besides being the authority responsible for personal data protection, the CDP’s mandate includes ensuring that technology does not pose a threat to the rights and lives of citizens.
The CDP’s engagements with platforms complemented user reporting of harmful and illegal content and the trusted partner programme. However, participants noted that user reports and trusted partner programmes are heavily subjective, with users and partners sometimes flagging content as inappropriate or dangerous “solely based on their opinions”. “Moderation policies by platforms and governments must be alive to differing contexts and opinions,” said Serge Koué, a blogger and Information Technology expert. Moreover, algorithm-based content moderation measures are also prone to the same challenge, as they do not understand local context and languages, according to Pape Ismaïla Dieng, Communication and Advocacy Officer at AfricTivistes.
The complexities in content moderation were further highlighted with case studies from Nigeria and Uganda. In 2021, former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced a countrywide ban on Twitter following the deletion of a tweet from his account about the Biafra civil war. Twitter claimed the tweet violated the platform’s policy on “abusive behaviour.” Twitter was blocked from operating in the country following this face-off. In October 2021,the government issued several conditions for lifting the ban. It required Twitter to set up a local office, pay tax locally and cooperate with the Nigerian government to regulate harmful tweets. The platform remained banned in the country until January 2022.
In Uganda, during the 2021 election period, Facebook and Twitter suspended the accounts of various pro-government individuals over what Facebook described as “Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour (CIB)” to suit the online narrative interests of the ruling party. The platforms’ actions sparked the ire of President Yoweri Museveni who responded by stating in a national address that, “If you want to take sides against the (ruling party), then that group will not operate in Uganda,” adding that, “We cannot tolerate this arrogance of anybody coming to decide for us who is good and who is bad.” A day later on January 11, 2021, access to social media was blocked and two days later the internet as a whole was blocked as citizens prepared to go to the polls. Facebook remains blocked to-date.
The experiences from Nigeria and Uganda highlighted not only the role of public figures as perpetrators of harmful content but also the impact of the unchecked power of governments to censor and restrict access to platforms in direct response to content moderation based on platforms’ Community Standards.
During the workshop, Olivia Tchamba, Meta’s Public Policy Manager for Francophone Africa, stated that the platform was committed to striking a balance between giving users a voice and ensuring the predominance of reliable information. She added that regulation coupled with responsible user behaviour should be the norm.
CIPESA’s Programme Manager Ashnah Kalemera also reiterated that content moderation requires a multi-stakeholder and multi-faceted approach not only involving platforms and regulators but also users.
The workshop, which was attended by 25 participants including journalists, social media influencers, human rights defenders and staff of civil society organisations, called on platforms to ensure their terms of use are available in multiple languages, increase transparency in their content moderation processes, and promote awareness and understanding among African users of recourse mechanisms.
They also emphasised that consolidating efforts such as by civil society, the CDP and Meta’s Oversight Board in line with national laws and international human rights standards, would help create a social media ecosystem that upholds freedom of expression and privacy, among other rights. Whereas the Senegalese Constitutional Court ruled against the postponement of elections, a new date for the polls is yet to be determined. The dialogue during CIPESA’s and AfricTivistes workshop is critical as tensions continue to simmer online and offline, and sets the pace for similar engagements in other African countries set to go to the polls during 2024 and the push for increased tech accountability.
Par Abdou Aziz Cissé, Laïty Ndiaye et rédacteur du CIPESA |
Le report des élections présidentielles au Sénégal en février 2024 a exacerbé les tensions politiques dans le pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest. En réponse, le Ministère de la Communication, des Télécommunications et de l’Économie Numérique a suspendu l’accès à Internet mobile, d’abord le 5 février alors que le parlement débattait de la prolongation du mandat du Président Macky Sall, puis à nouveau le 13 février au milieu de manifestations de la société civile. Le ministère a affirmé que les plateformes de médias sociaux alimentaient la diffusion de “plusieurs messages haineux subversifs” incitant à la violence.
Les restrictions de février 2024 sur l’accès à Internet mobile constituaient la troisième instance de perturbations du réseau dans le pays, qui avait précédemment maintenu l’accès à Internet disponible lors de moments cruciaux, notamment les élections. L’année dernière, le Sénégal a restreint l’accès à Internet et interdit TikTok, au milieu de manifestations de l’opposition.
C’est dans ce contexte que la Collaboration sur les Politiques Internationales des TIC pour l’Afrique de l’Est et Australe (CIPESA), en partenariat avec AfricTivistes, a organisé un atelier sur la responsabilité des plateformes et la modération du contenu le 8 février 2024. L’atelier, qui s’est tenu dans la capitale Dakar, a examiné l’efficacité et l’impact de la modération du contenu et a discuté des opportunités de collaboration entre les parties prenantes et des approches communes pour promouvoir la liberté d’Internet au Sénégal.
En septembre 2023, il y avait plus de 18 millions d’abonnés à Internet au Sénégal. Les participants à l’atelier ont reconnu que la croissance du nombre d’utilisateurs alimentait la désinformation en ligne et les discours de haine, qui menacent la cohésion sociale. Cependant, ils ont également exprimé des préoccupations concernant les réponses disproportionnées, notamment les perturbations du réseau instituées par le gouvernement, qui portent atteinte à la liberté d’expression, à l’accès à l’information et à la participation citoyenne.
Selon Ababacar Diop, Commissaire à la Commission de Protection des Données Personnelles (CDP), les efforts visant à freiner la diffusion de contenus nuisibles et illégaux en ligne ont conduit la Commission à collaborer avec des plateformes de médias sociaux populaires pour explorer des mécanismes permettant de réguler efficacement le contenu. Il a ajouté cependant que, comme les plateformes ne sont pas domiciliées au Sénégal, l’effet du partenariat a été limité. En plus d’être l’autorité chargée de la protection des données personnelles, le mandat de la CDP comprend également la garantie que la technologie ne constitue pas une menace pour les droits et la vie des citoyens.
Les engagements de la CDP avec les plateformes complétaient les signalements d’utilisateurs concernant des contenus nuisibles et illégaux et le programme de partenariat de confiance. Cependant, les participants ont noté que les signalements d’utilisateurs et les programmes de partenariat de confiance étaient fortement subjectifs, les utilisateurs et les partenaires signalant parfois des contenus comme inappropriés ou dangereux “uniquement sur la base de leurs opinions”. “Les politiques de modération des plateformes et des gouvernements doivent tenir compte des contextes et opinions différents”, a déclaré Serge Koué, blogueur et expert en technologie de l’information. De plus, les mesures de modération du contenu basées sur des algorithmes sont également sujettes au même défi, car elles ne comprennent pas le contexte local et les langues, selon Pape Ismaïla Dieng, Responsable de la Communication et du Plaidoyer chez AfricTivistes.
Les complexités liées à la modération du contenu ont été mises en lumière avec des études de cas du Nigeria et de l’Ouganda. En 2021, l’ancien Président nigérian Muhammadu Buhari a annoncé une interdiction nationale de Twitter suite à la suppression d’un tweet de son compte sur la guerre civile du Biafra. Twitter a affirmé que le tweet violait la politique de la plateforme sur “le comportement abusif”. Twitter a été bloqué dans le pays à la suite de cet affrontement. En octobre 2021, le gouvernement a émis plusieurs conditions pour lever l’interdiction. Il exigeait que Twitter ouvre un bureau local, paie des impôts localement et coopère avec le gouvernement nigérian pour réguler les tweets nuisibles. La plateforme est restée interdite dans le pays jusqu’en janvier 2022.
En Ouganda, pendant la période électorale de 2021, Facebook et Twitter ont suspendu les comptes de divers individus pro-gouvernementaux pour ce que Facebook a décrit comme “Comportement Inauthentique Coordonné (CIC)” afin de servir les intérêts narratifs en ligne du parti au pouvoir. Les actions des plateformes ont suscité la colère du Président Yoweri Museveni qui a répondu en déclarant lors d’une allocution nationale que : “Si vous voulez prendre parti contre le (parti au pouvoir), alors ce groupe n’opérera pas en Ouganda”, ajoutant que : “Nous ne pouvons pas tolérer cette arrogance de quiconque venant décider pour nous qui est bon et qui est mauvais.” Un jour plus tard, le 11 janvier 2021, l’accès aux médias sociaux a été bloqué et deux jours plus tard, Internet dans son ensemble a été bloqué alors que les citoyens se préparaient à aller voter. Facebook reste bloqué à ce jour.
Les expériences du Nigeria et de l’Ouganda ont mis en lumière non seulement le rôle des personnalités publiques en tant qu’auteurs de contenus nuisibles, mais aussi l’impact du pouvoir non contrôlé des gouvernements pour censurer et restreindre l’accès aux plateformes en réponse directe à la modération du contenu basée sur les Normes Communautaires des plateformes.
Pendant l’atelier, Olivia Tchamba, Responsable des Politiques Publiques de Meta pour l’Afrique francophone, a déclaré que la plateforme s’engageait à trouver un équilibre entre donner la parole aux utilisateurs et garantir la prédominance de l’information fiable. Elle a ajouté que la réglementation associée à un comportement utilisateur responsable devrait être la norme.
La Directrice de Programme de CIPESA, Ashnah Kalemera, a également souligné que la modération du contenu nécessite une approche multi-parties prenantes et multifacette impliquant non seulement les plateformes et les régulateurs, mais aussi les utilisateurs.
L’atelier, auquel ont participé 25 personnes, dont des journalistes, des influenceurs des médias sociaux, des défenseurs des droits de l’homme et du personnel d’organisations de la société civile, a appelé les plateformes à garantir que leurs conditions d’utilisation soient disponibles dans plusieurs langues, à accroître la transparence de leurs processus de modération du contenu, et à promouvoir la sensibilisation et la compréhension des utilisateurs africains sur les mécanismes de recours.
Ils ont également souligné que la consolidation des efforts, tels que ceux de la société civile, du CDP et du Conseil de Surveillance de Meta, conformément aux lois nationales et aux normes internationales en matière de droits de l’homme, contribuerait à créer un écosystème des médias sociaux qui défend la liberté d’expression et la vie privée, entre autres droits. Alors que la Cour Constitutionnelle sénégalaise s’est prononcée contre le report des élections, une nouvelle date pour les élections reste à déterminer. Le dialogue lors de l’atelier de CIPESA et d’AfricTivistes est crucial alors que les tensions continuent de bouillonner en ligne et hors ligne, et donne le ton pour des engagements similaires dans d’autres pays africains devant se rendre aux urnes en 2024 et pour la promotion de la responsabilité accrue des technologies.
The resolution is timely, as it comes amidst an unprecedented spike in the scale and nature of state surveillance that is often unlawful, excessive, and inadequately supervised by oversight bodies. As CIPESA research has found, the expansion in state surveillance in various African countries is denying citizens their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and undermining their participation in democratic processes.
The Resolution on the deployment of mass and unlawful targeted communication surveillance and its impact on human rights in Africa, adopted last November at the Commission’s 77th Ordinary Session held in Arusha, Tanzania, expresses concern about the unrestrained acquisition of communication surveillance technologies by states without adequate regulation. It also notes the lack of adequate national frameworks on privacy, communication surveillance, and personal data protection.
Furthermore, the resolution notes the Commission’s concern about the disproportionate targeting of journalists, human rights defenders, civil society organisations, whistleblowers and opposition political activists by state surveillance.
CIPESA welcomes the resolution, which reflects the findings of our research and the recommendations we have variously made to African governments regarding the conduct of state surveillance. CIPESA has previously called upon stakeholders, including governments, to take all measures that buttress the right to privacy in order to guarantee and enhance free expression, access to information, freedom of association, and freedom of assembly in accordance with international human rights standards.
Notably, the African Commission resolution urges African countries to ensure that all restrictions on privacy and other fundamental freedoms are necessary and proportionate, and in line with international human rights law and standards. It also urges states to consider safeguards such as the requirement for prior authorisation of surveillance by an independent and impartial judicial authority and the need for effective monitoring and regular review by independent oversight mechanisms.
According to CIPESA’s Legal Officer Edrine Wanyama, “The resolution is a step forward to buttressing data rights and privacy on the continent. States should take advantage of the resolution and overhaul regressive surveillance practices while embracing all internationally recognised efforts and standards for strengthening the right to privacy.”
