Telecom
TikTok Inaugurates Industry-First Sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council
TikTok is taking major steps to boost safety on its platform across Sub-Saharan Africa with the launch of its inaugural Safety Advisory Council and the expansion of its #SaferTogether community education campaign. By partnering with key stakeholders, including policymakers, members from academia, NGOs, and community leaders, TikTok aims to foster a collaborative approach to ensuring a secure and positive platform environment. This announcement was made at TikTok’s Safety Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya.
A Continuous Investment: The Safety Advisory Council
Since 2020, TikTok has established nine regional Safety Advisory Councils alongside the U.S. Content Advisory Council, each composed of experts in areas such as youth safety, free expression, and hate speech. These councils play a vital role in shaping TikTok’s policies, product features, and safety processes, ensuring the platform remains responsive to evolving challenges.
The newly launched Sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council will further this effort by bringing together local experts who will collaborate with TikTok to develop forward-looking policies and address regional safety concerns. Their input will help TikTok manage current issues and anticipate future challenges, reinforcing the platform’s commitment to user safety and fostering a positive online environment.
Members of the Sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council are:
- Prof Guy Berger, Rhodes University (South Africa)
- Dennis Coffie, Content creator (Ghana)
- Peter Cunliffe-Jones, University of Westminster Visiting Research Fellow (UK)
- Aisha Dabo, Co-Founder and coordinator of AfricTivistes (Senegal)
- Lillian Kariuki, Founder and Executive Director of Watoto Watch Network (Kenya)
- Dr Akinola Olojo, Expert on preventing and countering violent extremism (Nigeria)
- Prof Medhane Tadesse, Policy academic on peace and security issues (Ethiopia)
- Berhan Taye, Independent Researcher (Ethiopia)
“With the launch of the Sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council, we are demonstrating our commitment to including expert African voices in our Trust and Safety work.
“This group of leaders was chosen for their broad range of expertise and experience, and we look forward to working with them over the coming years.” – Valiant Richey, Global Head of Outreach and Partnerships, Trust and Safety, TikTok
#SaferTogether: A Community-Centric Approach
This iteration of the #SaferTogether campaign is designed to engage the community actively in promoting a basic understanding of the platform’s community guidelines and safety features. This initiative will include workshops, social media outreach, and partnerships with key stakeholders to raise awareness about the importance of following TikTok’s community standards. The campaign aims to foster a collaborative effort to ensure a secure environment for creative expression.
Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, Director of Government Relations & Public Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa emphasised, “The community empowerment campaign highlights the importance of safety being a shared responsibility. This part of the campaign will speak directly to the TikTok community, to join us in making TikTok a safer space for all by ensuring they follow the Community Guidelines and use the safety features available to them. With the additional layer that the Safety Advisory Council presents, we believe that safety can be achieved, collectively.”
Understanding TikTok’s Community Guidelines
TikTok’s Community Guidelines are integral to the platform’s safety efforts. Developed through comprehensive research and input from various stakeholders, including safety experts and community members, these guidelines set the standard for acceptable behaviour and content on the platform. They are designed to foster a safe and welcoming environment, ensuring that everyone can express themselves freely and creatively while staying protected from potential harm. The guidelines are continuously updated to address emerging safety concerns and support a respectful online community.
Impact of the #SaferTogether Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa
In Kenya, TikTok has so far achieved remarkable milestones with its flagship #SaferTogether workshops.
- Reaching students and youth aged 13 to 24 from secondary schools to universities
- Conducting workshops in 26 out of 47 counties across Kenya, these workshops continue to encourage best practices on online platforms
- Workshops have also benefitted over 64,000 students, more than 467 parents, and 346 teachers
In 2022, the #SaferTogether workshops and campaign launched in Nigeria.
Earlier this year, TikTok announced the official partnership with the African Union Commission’s Women, Gender, and Youth Directorate (WGYD) at the inaugural TikTok Safer Internet Summit in Ghana. This partnership will help deliver digital literacy programmes across Africa, guiding young people and their caregivers on how to diversify their livelihoods using digital platforms, in a safe and engaging way.
Safaricom has been a long-standing strategic partner of TikTok, collaborating on a number of mobile and network initiatives over the past several years, including TikTok data bundles and participating in the #LevelUpAfrica Creator event. In light of these ongoing collaborations, Safaricom expressed strong support for TikTok’s recent efforts to enhance online safety in Africa. “At Safaricom, we see the internet as a resource that everyone should have access to, safely.
“Having witnessed the announcement of the TikTok Safety Advisory Council and the launch of the #SaferTogether campaign, we commend TikTok’s efforts in bringing together various stakeholders for a common goal – ensuring online safety and promoting the safe use of its platform across Africa,” said Fawzia Ali, Chief Consumer Business Officer, Safaricom PLC.
Telecom
Instagram Unveils Teen Accounts with Built-in Parental Control & Privacy
Instagram is overhauling the way it works for teenagers, promising more “built-in protections” for young people and added controls and reassurance for parents.
The new “teen accounts” are being introduced from Tuesday in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
They will turn many privacy settings on by default for all under 18s, including making their content unviewable to people who don’t follow them, and making them actively approve all new followers.
But children aged 13 to 15 will only be able to adjust the settings by adding a parent or guardian to their account.
Social media companies are under pressure worldwide to make their platforms safer, with concerns that not enough is being done to shield young people from harmful content.
UK children’s charity the NSPCC said Instagram’s announcement was a “step in the right direction”.
But it added that account settings can “put the emphasis on children and parents needing to keep themselves safe.”
Rani Govender, the NSPCC’s online child safety policy manager, said they “must be backed up by proactive measures that prevent harmful content and sexual abuse from proliferating Instagram in the first place”.
Meta describes the changes as a “new experience for teens, guided by parents”.
It says they will “better support parents and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protections in place.”
Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly viewed content about self-harm and suicide on Instagram before taking her life aged 14, told the BBC it was important to wait and see how the new policy was implemented.
“Whether it works or not we’ll only find out when the measures come into place,” he said.
“Meta is very good at drumming up PR and making these big announcements, but what they also have to be good at is being transparent and sharing how well their measures are working.”
Teen accounts will mostly change the way Instagram works for users between the ages of 13 and 15, with a number of settings turned on by default.
These include strict controls on sensitive content to prevent recommendations of potentially harmful material, and muted notifications overnight.
Accounts will also be set to private rather than public – meaning teenagers will have to actively accept new followers and their content cannot be viewed by people who don’t follow them.
Telecom
GSMA MWC Kigali 2024 to explore role of connectivity in driving socio-economic growth across Africa
GSMA MWC Kigali will return to the Kigali Convention Center from 29-31 October 2024.
MWC Kigali, Africa’s largest and most influential connectivity event, will convene powerful innovators and political leaders from across the entire continent, geared towards driving the digital economy forward and enabling socio-economic growth.
MWC Kigali will deliver a range of keynotes and panel sessions hosted by industry thought leaders and leading enterprises, focussed around the four event themes: Connected Continent, The AI Future, FinTech, and Africa’s Digital DNA.
Recently confirmed speakers include Airtel Africa’s CEO, Sunil Taldar; Amini’s Founder & CEO, Kate Kallot; the GSMA’s Director General, Mats Granryd; the ITU’s Secretary-General, Doreen Bogdan-Martin; Lelapa AI’s CEO and Co-founder, Pelonomi Moiloa; MTN Group’s FinTech CEO, Serigne Dioum; Republic of Rwanda’s Minister of ICT and Innovation, Hon. Paula Ingabire; Take Back the Mic’s CEO & Founder, Derrick Ashong and, Wi-Flix’s CEO, Louis Manu.
For the first time in Africa, the GSMA Ministerial Programme will be hosted at MWC Kigali, marking a new chapter in the commitment to advancing the digital agenda in Africa.
The programme will convene the most influential telecommunications leaders from across the African continent to discuss policy and regulatory topics key to the region.
The Mobile for Development (M4D) team will once again play a central role at the event, driving innovation in digital technology to reduce global inequalities. M4D will host the ‘Mobile for Development Theatre’, a dedicated space for keynote sessions, panels, and discussions.
Themes will range from AI for impact and humanitarian innovation, agriculture and climate, to digital inclusion and gender.
Also returning this year is the Mobile Money Leadership Forum, which will explore key trends and innovations in mobile financial services.
The MWC Kigali keynotes will cover some of Africa’s most pressing digital connectivity issues.
Keynote 1 will discuss how digital technologies are driving socio-economic development in Africa to address the continent’s unique challenges.
Keynote 2 will focus on the transformative potential of AI, including how it can drive sustainable and inclusive growth across Africa.
Keynote 3 will see speakers explore the rapid evolution of Africa’s Fintech landscape and the technologies impacting investment opportunities.
While Keynote 4 will explore how the evolving content landscape is allowing African content creators to be heard and celebrated globally.
An agenda of GSMA Summits will be hosted during the event, inviting industry leaders and policymakers to discover the issues affecting enterprises in areas from network security to diversity in tech:
The Security Summit will tackle the most pressing security challenges mobile network operators face today, in the context of a rapidly evolving cyber risk landscape.
The Digital Summit will explore the digital economy’s potential in Africa, exploring how digital technologies and policy reform can drive significant socio-economic growth in Africa.
The AI Summit will cover both the vast potential and the associated risks of AI technologies in Africa, as the technology’s prevalence grows in the global economy.
The 5G Summit will address the barriers preventing the technology’s widespread adoption and ways to unlock its potential for both enterprises and consumers.
The Diversity for Tech Summit will focus on the urgent need for greater disability inclusion in Africa’s tech sector, ensuring that people with disabilities have access to the tools and opportunities they need to succeed.
MWC Kigali is held alongside the Africa Health Tech Summit and FEWA (Future of Education and Work in Africa), offering an in-depth exploration of connectivity challenges and opportunities in the health and education sectors.
We are proud to have the support of our stellar line up of sponsors, exhibitors and event partners, including Africa CDC, Africa Union, Huawei, inABLE, MTN, the Republic of Rwanda, Smart Africa and ZTE.
For more information, follow our updates on the MWC Kigali Press Zone or visit www.mwckigali.com.
Accredited media are invited to register here for a complimentary pass, which is required for access to the press centre.
Telecom
APRA commiserates with Nigerian, Cameroonian governments over massive devastating floods
African Public Relations Association (APRA), the umbrella body of public relations practitioners and professionals in Africa, expresses deepest sympathy to the Governments and people of Nigeria and Cameroon over the overwhelming floods ravaging the countries, particularly the recent flooding in Borno State and other parts of the Northeast zone in Nigeria, as well as in Cameroon’s Far North Province, with severity in the city of Yagoua, the capital of Mayo Danay Department.
APRA laments the occurrence of the distressing floods caused by the collapse of a dam in Maiduguri, and in Mayo Danay after torrential rains.
In both instances, the floods have resulted in the death of many people, displacement of persons, and unprecedented in its upsetting of the ecology.
APRA notes with grave compassion and serious concerns the impact of the floods on markets and by implication livelihoods in Maiduguri and environs as well as the reported escape of wildlife, including snakes and other lethal reptiles after the flooding partially destroyed a zoo.
In Cameroon, over a hundred primary and secondary schools are affected as well as livestock, infrastructure and livelihoods.
In these incidents, we are faced with humanitarian crises and, therefore, really concerned about the recurrence, just a month after the collapse of Arba’at Dam in Sudan that equally caused deaths and displacement of persons in many communities.
APRA is determined to work with all governments, institutions and other stakeholders within and outside the continent to address communication management on climate change and other topical issues central to securing livelihoods, improving quality of life and enhancing growth across sectors in Africa.
Just two months ago, APRA leaders met with other stakeholders within the Association to announce the institutionalization of committees to act on specific challenges of African people. One of these teams focuses on the African Union and Related Linkages.
Through that committee, APRA plans to leverage its observer status with the African Union and to engage with appropriate councils of ministers to enhance communication management that will transform many sectors in Africa.
APRA is united behind the aims of the governments and peoples of Nigeria and Cameroon to find solutions to the humanitarian crises attending the disasters.
The central governments of these countries, the subnational governments in Borno State and Far North Province in Nigeria and Cameroon respectively, and other local and international stakeholders are commended on their responses to the crises to bring succour to those affected by the floods.
On behalf of all members, the Executive Council of APRA hereby sends sincere condolence to those who lost family members and friends, and wish the displaced, the injured as well as those whose livelihoods have been affected a speedy recovery.
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