What does Meta's end of moderation mean for Africa?
also ft cyber in Sudan and Nigeria's data protector's warning to processors
CybAfriqué is a space for news and analysis on cyber, data, and information security on the African continent.
Hi there, first email of the year. Welcome back! I’m particularly excited about this edition because it provides key insights into some systemic issues. From Sudan to Meta’s shift and a thought piece on what Nigeria’s NDPC’s warning might indicate in the larger scheme of African digital moderation — dig in!
— Olatunji
HIGHLIGHTS
What does Meta’s end of moderation mean for Africa?
The fact-checking and information security ecosystem was thrown into shock on Tuesday when Mark Zuckerberg announced his plan to terminate the third-party fact-checking program and replace it with Community Notes like X (formerly Twitter). Beyond the political shift and capitalistic intent of Mark’s decision, it’s important to think ahead of what this shift might mean for mis/disinformation, especially across Africa, which has specific socio-political conditions and hindrances that make information manipulation — especially on Meta — much more complex.
Before now, Meta has struggled to moderate content in Africa. It has been unable to delegate resources needed to moderate information in a space with diverse languages, delicate political atmospheres, and a complex constantly evolving culture. The third-party fact-checking arrangement has allowed Meta tap into networks of fact-checkers based in Africa and constantly living and evolving with that culture to help moderate the sphere. Until 2022, hate speech and disinformation in local indigenous non-Western languages thrived on Meta platforms, despite already strengthened moderation of similar posts in English, French, and other major languages.
During elections and periods of political changes, information manipulation often happens in the context of evolving language and culture, which, closeted by a data and information darkness, has been unreachable to Meta and most of Big Tech. Fact-checkers in Africa often fact-check mis/disinformation using OSINT, advanced analysis, and direct calls and comments by relevant authorities because there is a lack of accessible data, reports, and coverage on issues that have proven as mis/disinformation hotbeds.
On X, the X team checks and approves community notes before being shown to the public. According to reports, only about 30% of all notes are approved. Many of these notes are also disproportionately lacking in African and Asian issues. Information manipulation from these regions has also disproportionately thrived on X. Open-source community notes rely heavily on general literacy, press freedom, and information availability — all of which are disproportionately lower in Africa due to systemically undermining issues.
Community notes on X are also only available in English, and have been said by digital harm researcher, Alexios Mantzarlis, to only be marginally useful at best to provide better context for information shared during elections
With this move, meta platforms will become an African mis/disinformation hotbed. As Meta platforms Facebook and WhatsApp also host the continent's older, less technologically savvy population, the stakes are much more complicated, and fact-checking will be hard, slow, and largely inaccessible to the population that matters.
All of these might also encourage restrictions and censorship by governments, especially with the rise of cybercrime prohibition policies which we’ve seen being used to undermine access to information and press freedom.
Meta’s move might be the first in dominoes undermining African digital public sanity and sovereignty as we know it.
Cyber in Sudan
The conflict in Sudan, caused by a struggle for power between the army and a paramilitary group RSF, has caused the death of over 150,000 people and an estimated 11 million displaced. In 2023, during the early days of this wave, we reported the acquisition of predator spyware by warring parties, increased disinformation, and internet restrictions. Since 2023, the conflict in Sudan has also manifested as one of the most devastating retrogressions of cyberspace globally, with the country ranking as Not Free in both Freedom in the World and Freedom on the Net 2024 ranking of the Freedom House. Dropping from a score of 10/100 and 30/100 in 2023 to 6/100 and 28/100 in 2024 respectively
ICYMI: Spyware in Sudan
Communication infrastructures have been targeted with physical assaults, cyber-attacks, and even policy interventions, affecting communication, transactions, and emergency services in the country. On April 15, 2024, Cloudflare confirmed a significant drop in internet traffic of many service providers in the country. The next day, MTN Sudan received an order to shut down the internet, and other ISPs such as Sudatel, Zain, and Canar have had low, epileptic connectivity — caused and exacerbated by infrastructural destruction.
Many with the financial means have resorted to using Starlink, which although unlicensed in the region, is functional. Starlink has threatened to shut down operations in the unlicensed regions, including Sudan — against the protest of occupants, NGOs, and internet advocates.
Narratives in the digital space are also being influenced and abused by players involved in the conflict, where the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are engaged in information war defaming, discrediting, and promoting falsehood about each other, especially on X (Twitter). RSF once falsely claimed complete control of Khartoum while still in active combat with the SAF, which confused the displaced who were in a hard search for a safe place to stay.
Sudan, even before the conflict, has a history of surveillance, censorship, and information manipulation. In the 2019 protests and 2021 coup d’etat, access to the internet was shut down for several days. In complex political ecosystems such as Sudan, authorities leverage shutdowns to control narratives and increase popularity. This, however, has extreme negative effects on the people. Information manipulation often exacerbates vulnerability and worsens security in periods when people need the truth to make both personal and collective decisions on health, migration, and politics. Internet shutdowns also greatly affect the economy, leading to an estimated $1.12 billion loss in Sudan, the lion's share of the $1.5 billion loss in revenue for Sub-Saharan Africa due to the internet shutdown in 2024 as reported by Top10VPN. Education, banking transactions, communication, and health services — all crucial in periods of conflict — also suffer greatly when the internet is shut down.
Nigeria’s data commission's warning has a lot to say about the state of cyber policies in Africa.
The Nigeria Data Protection Commission has announced it plans to impose fines on defaulting data controllers and processors this year. Dr Vincent Olatunji, CEO of NDPC announced this as part of the commission’s strategic outlook for the year 2025.
This is in light of Nigeria’s enaction of a fresh data protection act in June 2023. In theory, data protection is needed, but the way that it has been implemented has focused less on protection and more on fines. It asked all manners of processors to register, implemented a data processor registration fee, and started doling out heavy fines on defaulters.
It is a very steep turn from what used to be business as usual where digital spaces were given little to no attention. and it is not just in Nigeria. In Kenya, the government barred WorldCoin operations due to privacy concerns. In Ghana, authorities are fuming over the unauthorized use of Starlink. According to this 2023 report, 36 of 54 African countries have data laws or regulations, a large chunk of which were only introduced or improved in 2020 or later. These efforts span regional, sub-regional, and national levels and on the surface, have encompassed various frameworks and initiatives aimed at safeguarding human rights in the digital space.
We are seeing an excision of power in the digital sector in a way that focuses on achieving political gain rather than protecting the digital space. The simplest, most observable indication of this is that while digital regulations have expanded rapidly, the same cannot be said for freedom of speech and actual translation of policies to on-ground impact.
For example, the Nigerian government uses its ambiguous cybercrime law to oppress journalists and dissidents. Other policies also vilify free speech and political critiquing in the name of preventing hate or fake news, restrict access to the internet in the name of curbing unrest, and tax social media use and content creation in the name of moderating the space.
There is also a massive push for face-serving digital policies without the necessary infrastructure such as stable electricity or broadband access to back them. Again, digital policies are being used as a tool to look like the government is doing something. In the end, these policies derail the digital agenda to empower people and strengthen democracy.
Besides, the same governments do not play the rules they are enacting. Governmental institutions are among the largest flouters of data and digital regulations and get away with little to no sanctions. Political candidates also flout the same ambiguous hate speech and misinformation regulations to their political advantage.
FEATURES
This article by Ali Chenrose on dFR Lab details how AI tools were used in Kenya to discredit protesters and allegedly Russian connections. During the protest against the controversial finance bill by Kenyan youths in June 2024 in the streets and on social media, a network of X accounts appeared to operate in coordination, amplifying several hashtags that attacked protestors and boosted support for President William Ruto and the government.
The disparity in terms of connectivity in rural and urban areas in Africa still pose a big challenge to the transition to effective digital governance in Africa. Like in Benin, which is the focus of this report, residents of rural areas still struggle to effectively carry out administrative procedures online due to connectivity challenges.
HEADLINES
Africa lost $1.5 billion to Internet shutdowns in 2024 - Techpoint Africa
AI tools used in Kenya to discredit protesters and allege Russian connections - DFR Lab
Nigeria wants to add iris biometrics to digital ID for more inclusion - Biometric Update
Mandatory digital ID for banking policy goes into effect in Ethiopia - Biometric Update
Togo Launches Open Data Platforms for Public Access - Togofirst.com
Egypt launches app to register mobile phones from abroad with grace period for customs payment - Egypt Today
Nigeria Police Announce Recovery Of N8.8Billion, $84,000, Others By Cybercrime Unit In 2024 - Sahara Reporters
ACROSS THE WORLD
India Lifts Restrictions on WhatsApp Pay, Paving the Way for Meta’s Fintech Push
Telegram Shared Data of Thousands of Users After CEO’s Arrest
OPPORTUNITIES!
Messe Wien Exhibition Congress Center - Vienna Date: February 4, 2025
Veeam Data Resilience For Africa Webinar Date: February 5, 2025
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