The African continent has often been treated with little respect by leading technology companies.
Even lawmakers who invite tech leaders to address their concerns are ignored.
Once, the South African Parliament invited one of the leading social media companies to get a better understanding of their activity in the country.
This invitation was not even acknowledged. It is therefore surprising when a tech company makes an effort to treat the continent with respect.
Some tech companies however are beginning to change this behaviour.
One of them is TikTok, a leading social media company.
In August 2024, TikTok took major steps at the TikTok’s Safety Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya 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.
TikTok has been sued by regulators in Europe. In the US, Tik Tok CEO appeared in the US Congress to account for some of the accusations.
In response to major concerns raised about the platform, 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 assist TikTok in managing current issues and anticipating future challenges, reinforcing the platform’s commitment to user safety and fostering a positive online environment.
One member of the council is South Africa, Prof Guy Berger. He spent the past decade as a senior director at UNESCO leading its work in Communications and Information policy.
The 15 years prior to that was spent in heading up the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa, where he is recognised as a professor emeritus.
Other members include Dennis Coffie, Content creator (Ghana), Peter Cunliffe-Jones, the 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) and Berhan Taye, Independent Researcher (Ethiopia)
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.
This an impressive step by a global social media platform considering some are becoming too involved in political matters.
There’s an urgent need for global social media platforms to embrace local value systems.
This has been missing in Africa. If social media are to add more value more should be done to align with local concerns around online safety and other critical matters.
Wesley Diphoko has been operating at the intersection of technology and media as the Editor-In-Chief of Fast Company (SA) magazine and a Technology Analyst.
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