- TikTok has established a council of internet and information experts from six African nations.
- It says this council will influence its policies on hate speech and disinformation in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
- The company quietly cut half of its African employees this month.
Popular social media platform TikTok has assembled a council of experts representing six African countries in a bid to address the spread of extremism, hate speech and violent rhetoric on social media on the continent.
The new council represents Sub-Saharan Africa and TikTok says that it is the first of its kind in Africa, with the initial announcement of the group made during the TikTok safety summit held in Nairobi, Kenya.
“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,” the platform explains.
TikTok has established nine Safety Advisory Councils alongside the US Content Advisory Council all over the world since 2020, and says that each is composed of experts in areas such as youth safety, free expression and combatting 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 company adds, which means the Sub-Saharan Africa council will likely influence how users in the region will experience the TikTok app.
The African experts on the council will collaborate with TikTok to develop policies and address regional concerns focusing on African issues and African users.
“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,” it adds.
Here are the members of the Sub-Saharan Africa TikTok Safety Council:
- 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).
For its South African representative, Prof. Berger is one of the continent’s foremost experts on online media and internet policy issues. He spent a decade as a senior director at UNESCO leading its work on communication and information policy.
Before that he spent 15 years heading the School of Journalism at Rhodes and has published more than 40 UNESCO research papers in his time, covering topics like disinformation, internet governance and artificial intelligence.
“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,” asserts Valiant Richey, Global Head of Outreach and Partnerships, Trust and Safety, TikTok.
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.”
During the 2024 elections in South Africa, TikTok was part of a team comprised of social media and internet leaders together with Google and Meta who joined the government in an effort to fight the spread of fake news, disinformation and calls for violence on internet platforms.
Despite launching a council specialising in the online issues that face Sub-Saharan Africa, TikTok quietly slashed half of its African workforce in August, in Nigeria and South Africa. While the company didn’t say why it cut its staff, it did issue a statement earlier in the year that employees will suffer cuts across the globe.
[Image – Provided]
