Meta announced a partnership with the Independent National Elections Commission (INEC), civil society groups, and local radio stations to combat the spread of disinformation and protect the integrity of the Nigerian 2023 general elections. The approach has also been informed by conversations with human rights groups, NGOs, local civil society organisations, regional experts, and local election authorities to make it easier for audiences to distinguish trusted content from dubious claims. For instance, the official Facebook page on the 2023 elections will have a blue tick that confirms the authenticity of the results posted on the INEC official website. Additionally, Meta has quadrupled the size of its global teams working on safety and security to about 40,000 people, including over 15,000 content reviewers in every major timezone. Collectively, these reviewers are able to review content in more than 70 languages, including Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa.
Africa
Digitalisation and U.S. Strategy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa
The new U.S. Strategy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa outlines US priorities in the growing competition for Africa with, in particular, China.
Digitalisation plays an important role as an ‘accelerator’ of sustainable development.
The US strategy focuses on a few issues in the digital ecosystem aimed at building open, reliable, interoperable, and secure internet.
- digitalisation of financial services and records
- building infrastructure: undersea cables, expanding a number of data centres
- investing in digital business in Africa
- call for Open RAN technology for telecom infrastructure; this call relates to Huawei’s dominance in 5G networks built around proprietary technology
- digital democracy and the fight against digital authoritarianism
- fighting disinformation and gender-based online harassment
- establishing standards for responsible conduct in cyberspace
- building skills and knowledge through training and courses in science, technology, engineering, and math
You can consult the annotated text of the U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa.
Central African Republic launches crypto initiative Sango
The Central African Republic (CAR) has launched the digital monetary system Sango aimed at modernising and uplifting the country’s economy and tokenising the country’s natural resources.
At the launch, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra stressed that ‘For us, the formal economy is no longer an option.’
Citizen identity and ownership of assets will also be tokenised as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The Sango Coin and The Crypto Island, a metaverse platform, are also in development.
Nigerians’ reaction to Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover
Twitter is considered by most Nigerians as an important civic space that has been used to mobilise for political and social causes. However, Elon Musk’s philosophy of freedom of speech and information is at odds with Nigeria’s affinity to ban or regulate social media and could affect freedom of speech. Many wait to see how this will work out.
New Nimble networks to empower local communities
The IEEE Future Networks 2021 Challenge was won by the Nimble network solution for local communities. Eric Nitschke, founder of Wakoma which is the start-up behind Nimble, said it will ‘quickly build a low-cost, low-power, and yet still portable network that meets their own connectivity and education needs’.
It is open-source and does not depend on the internet. It is able to operate without the internet by connecting people within local communities, and can produce content in local languages without relying on big systems.
Nible tackles efficiently logistical and supply-chain challenges that account for up to 80% in humanitarian funding. It is easily scalable and can be used to cover a single village or an entire area. Nible is an energy-efficient system, supporting thousands of users with less power than 100 W. South Africa and Canada were the first places where Nimble was deployed.
For more information, visit Spectrum by IEEE.
The African Union Data Policy Framework
The African Union Data Policy Framework is a crucial step towards consolidating African data management and governance. It seeks to enable the free and secure flow of data across the continent while upholding human rights, security, and equitable access to benefits. The framework provides a shared vision, principles, strategic priorities, and recommendations for African countries to effectively develop their national data systems and capabilities. The endorsement of this policy document by African Union Organs indicates a commitment to investing in data and developing infrastructure to enable data flow across Africa.