New Partnership to Enhance Parliamentarians’ Role in Advancing Digital Freedoms

Announcement |

A new partnership to enhance the role of Members of Parliament in advancing progressive internet policy and protecting digital rights has been signed by the African Parliamentary Network on Internet Governance (APNIG), the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), and Small Media.

The partners recognised the critical role played by parliamentarians and the importance of…

CIPESA at the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF23)

By CIPESA Writer |

The Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) is an annual convening hosted by Nigeria based Paradigm Initiative. Themed “Building a sustainable Internet for all”, this year, the event is being hosted in Nairobi, Kenya on 12-14 April. DRIF is a platform where conversations on digital policy in Africa are shaped, policy directions debated and partnerships forged for…

Comprehensive Approach Needed to Tackle Online Disinformation in Africa and Europe, say Experts

News Update |

“There is no silver bullet to tackle online disinformation” was the conclusion of the Town Hall debate Jointly tackling disinformation while protecting human rights, organised by the African Union — European Union (AU-EU) Digital for Development (D4D) Hub at the Internet Governance Forum 2022.

The session, which took place on 2 December 2022 in a hybrid format, brought together…

TikTok Invisible Challenge: Nigerians Warned Against Naked Video Trend

News Update |

Nigeria’s telecommunications agency has warned a new TikTok trend called the Invisible Challenge could expose devices to malware.

The craze urges users to film themselves naked, then to use TikTok’s “Invisible Body” filter to replace their body with a blurry background.

But officials say some users have started attaching a link to videos which downloads a virus onto devices.

The…

Mnangagwa Signs Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill into Law

News update |

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has signed into law the controversial Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill, which passed through the Senate in July 2021 and was awaiting Presidential assent.

The new legislation to be called Data Protection Act (Chapter 11:12) was signed Friday, amid concerns from human rights groups that Mnangagwa’s jittery government was bent on stifling dissent on social media…

Leveraging the Digital Space to Combat Human Trafficking in DR Congo, Mauritania and The Gambia

By Ashnah Kalemera and Simone Toussi |

The growth in usage of digital technologies in Africa is fuelling technology-enabled human trafficking activities in the region. But these very technologies can be leveraged to fight the vice that is sweeping across the continent..

With support from the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF), the African Legal Think Tank on Women’s Rights (ALTOWR) has studied the role of the…

Digital Taxation Doing More Harm than Good for Access and Rights in Africa

By Evelyn Lirri |

When Uganda introduced a tax on social media use in 2018, the government hoped the new source of revenue would help widen the country’s tax base. Instead, internet subscriptions fell drastically and the government did not raise the anticipated revenue as most users turned to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access social media platforms.

Three years later in July 2021, Uganda abandoned…

Facebook Interdicted in Fight With South Africa’s GovChat

By Duncan McLeod |

Facebook has been interdicted and restrained by the Competition Tribunal from removing GovChat, a communications service used by the South African government, from its WhatsApp instant messaging platform.

The tribunal said on Thursday that Facebook, WhatsApp and Facebook South Africa may not remove GovChat on an interim basis pending further investigation. Facebook owns the WhatsApp messaging platform, which is dominant…

Digital Services Taxes May Be Difficult To Remove

By Nana Ama Sarfo |

An unresolved issue in the OECD’s base erosion and profit-shifting 2.0 reform project is when and how countries will remove their unilateral digital tax measures once a solution is brokered. The OECD has made it clear that inclusive framework members are expected to revoke unilateral measures and refrain from introducing new ones when that time comes.
 Yet after rounds of discussions,…

Zambia One of The 25 Countries Using Mobile Spyware to Spy on Citizen’s Calls, Texts and Location

News Update in Zambia |

A private surveillance firm that exploits mobile network vulnerabilities to spy on calls, texts and location data is doing business with at least 25 governments around the globe, including Zambia’s a report released this week has concluded.

The findings from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab scrutinize the work of the company Circles, which is a sister firm…