Social Media Platforms

CIPESA Submits Comments on Uganda’s Proposed New Digital Tax

 

By Edrine Wanyama |

On April 28, 2023, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)  submitted comments on the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023 to the Committee on Finance, Planning and Economic Development of the Uganda Parliament. The comments argue that the proposed law would  undermine access to and use of digital tools and services. 

The bill, among…

Gear Up! The 2023 Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica) is Heading to Tanzania!

Announcement |

The annual Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica) hosted by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) will be hosted in Dar es Salam, Tanzania on September 27-29, 2023. This year will mark a decade of the largest gathering on internet freedom in Africa, which has since 2014 put internet freedom on the…

Nigerians React With Joy and Resolve to Lifting of Twitter Ban

News Update |
Authorities lift the months-long suspension on social media giant’s operations after it agrees to meet conditions.
Lagos, Nigeria – Solomon Elusoji, a Lagos-based journalist, felt a rush of relief early on Thursday after being able to access Twitter for the first time in seven months.

“It feels like freedom,” Elusoji told Al Jazeera. “As a journalist, I use Twitter a lot to…

An earthquake Shook Tanzania. A New Law Prohibits Citizens from Speaking About It Online

By Pernille Baerendtsen and Amanda Lichtenstein |

New online content regulations prohibit certain topics without government approval.

When a major earthquake of 6.0 on the Richter scale shook coastal East Africa at around 8:15 on August 12, Tanzanians quickly took to Twitter to report on the unusual natural event that momentarily swayed chandeliers, shattered windows and cracked walls.

The earthquake hit beneath the Indian Ocean, approximately 82…

In the age of Misinformation, Who Holds the Power to Categorize the ‘Truth’?

By Mohamed Suliman |
When confronted with basic information such as ”Boston is in Massachusetts,” for instance, humans readily limit feedback to “true” or “false.” This binary framework is simple and intuitive, but the world is far more complex, and humans require more nuanced categorical frameworks to determine the truth.
When technology companies and researchers go through the process of building and constructing frameworks…

Young and Having Harmless Fun: Egypt Must Drop Charges Against Women TikTok Influencers

By AccessNow |

Amplifying its clampdown on freedom of expression online, the Egyptian government is on a campaign to arrest and prosecute women influencers on the emerging social media platform TikTok for violating “the values of the Egyptian family” and “inciting debauchery and immorality.”

The crackdown on TikTok influencers in Egypt began on 23 April 2020 with the arrest of 20-year-old student Haneen Hossam, for…

Countering the ‘Disinfodemic’ in Namibia

By  Frederico Links |

As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread outwards from its initial epicentre in China since December 2019, so too has a rising tide of disinformation. It has become clear over the months, since January 2020, that this disinformation tide is contributing to polluting and corrupting the health communication information space and is undermining the effectiveness of information-driven health responses…

Internet Blocked in Benin on Election Day

Benin News Update |

Internet access has been cut off in Benin as of 11:00 AM UTC, Sunday 28 April 2019, as the country was due to vote in parliamentary elections. Earlier in the day, providers in Benin blocked access to social media networks and communication apps for several hours, according to network data from the NetBlocks internet observatory. Facebook, Twitter,…

La société civile s’inquiète des perturbations persistantes de Internet au Tchad

News update |

La société civile s’inquiète des perturbations persistantes de Internet au Tchad

République du Tchad,
Gouvernement de la République du Tchad,

Nous, Organisations signataires, sommes profondément préoccupées par les multiples perturbations des services Internet au Tchad.

En effet, le 25 janvier 2018, les autorités tchadiennes ont arrêté Internet avant les manifestations prévues par des groupes de la société civile et des syndicats du…

Sudan has Blocked Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to Counter Anti-govt protests

By Abdi Latit Dahir |

Sudan’s government is looking to the internet as one way to quell swelling protests all over the country.

For over a week now, protesters in major cities have demonstrated against rising bread prices besides soaring inflation and shortages in fuel. To remedy the dire economic and political situation, marchers have called on president Omar al-Bashir, who has…