By CIPESA Writer |
Over the last couple of years, digital and social media have come to play a central role in elections in Africa. That role has many bright sides, such as enabling swift voter education by electoral bodies, efficient campaigns by candidates, as well as monitoring and reporting malpractice. For the bigger part, in many African countries, the focus…
By Asimwe John Ishabairu |
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,…
By Juliet Nanfuka|
Content moderation has emerged as a critical global concern in the digital age. In Africa, coinciding with increasing digital penetration and digitalisation, along with problematic platform responses to harmful content and retrogressive national legislation, the demand for robust and rights-respecting content moderation has reached a new level of urgency.
Online content platforms and governments are increasingly getting caught in…
By Brian Byaruhanga |
Over the years, journalists in Uganda have confronted a relentless tide of harassment, censorship, and physical violence as they diligently performed their duty. As reported by the Press Freedom Index, compiled by the Human Rights Network of Journalists, incidents of violations and abuse against journalists in Uganda have surged over recent years, climbing from 163 in 2018,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…