By Abdi Ali
Published August 24, 2024
Chinese networking site, TikTok, has launched a Safety Advisory Council for sub-Saharan Africa and is expannding its #SaferTogether community education campaign.
TikTok, which says it partnering with policymakers, academics, NGOs and community leaders to foster a collaborative approach to ensuring a secure and positive platform environment, says it has since 2020 established nine regional Safety Advisory Councils that cxomprise 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. It sayas it also has a Content Advisory Council in USA.
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The newly launched Sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council is expected to bring 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)
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“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,” says Valiant Richey, Global Head of Outreach and Partnerships, Trust and Safety at TikTok.
The iteration of the #SaferTogether campaign is designed to engage the community 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.
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“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,” says Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, TikTok’s Director of Government Relations & Public Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa.
In Kenya, TikTok has so far achieved remarkable milestones with its flagship #SaferTogether workshops that reaches students and youth aged 13 to 24 years from secondary schools to universities.
TikTok says it has conducted workshops that have benefitted more than 64,000 students, 467 parents and 346 teachers in 26 out of Kenya’s 47 counties.
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While the #SaferTogether workshops and campaign were launched in Nigeria in 2022, TikTok announced the official partnership with the African Union Commission’s Women, Gender, and Youth Directorate at the inaugural TikTok Safer Internet Summit in Ghana in early 2024. 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,” says Fawzia Ali, Chief Consumer Business Officer at Safaricom PLC.
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