Over the last decade governments across the continent have introduced a plethora of legal restrictions aimed at tackling disinformation and other kinds of “false” or “misleading” information. More recently, COVID-19 has prompted some governments, such as in South Africa, to pass emergency measures which also criminalise disinformation as it relates to the pandemic.
The Expression, Information and Digital Rights Unit at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, is hosting a discussion that will draw out the ways in which governments in Sub-Saharan Africa are tackling the disinformation challenge and delve into the issues these pose for the enjoyment of human rights and freedom of expression in particular in both theory and practice.
Webinar
Tuesday 21 July 2020
Webinar (Zoom)
09:00 GMT / 10:00 WAT / 11:00 SAST / 12:00 EAT
Theme: Government responses to disinformation in Sub-Saharan Africa
Moderator: Richard Wingfield
Head of Legal, Global Partners Digital
Panellists:
- Alfred Bulakali (Intervention will be in French)
Deputy Regional Director of ARTICLE 19 West Africa - Serge Daho (Intervention will be in French)
PROTEGE QV - Daniel Mwesigwa
Project Officer, Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) - Motsabi Rooper
Programme Officer, Global Partners Digital (GPD) - Marystella Auma Simiyu
Programme Officer, Expression, Information and Digital Rights Unit, Centre for Human Rights
Background
The webinar on government responses to disinformation in Sub-Saharan Africa will also introduce the disinformation policy tracker that panellists have jointly developed to track and analyse disinformation laws, policies and patterns of enforcement across Sub-Saharan Africa and discuss ways of advocating for more rights-respecting responses to the disinformation challenge going forward. The webinar will be held in English and French.
- To discuss how governments across Sub-Saharan Africa are responding to the disinformation and misinformation challenge;
- To discuss how these restrictions are being applied in practice and the impact they are having on the enjoyment of human rights; and
- To discuss options for promoting more rights-respecting responses to the issue of disinformation and misinformation on the continent going forward.
The discussion will include:
- Considerations of how the right to freedom of expression is impacted by these laws, policies and patterns of enforcement;
- Comparison of different approaches taken in different pieces of legislation from a freedom of expression perspective; and
- Considerations of what alternative approaches governments can take to address concerns stemming from disinformation.
Disinformation Tracker
The Disinformation Tracker is an interactive map seeks to support human rights defenders in Sub-Saharan Africa by tracking and analysing all laws, policies and other government actions on disinformation across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Powered by data and insight from local partners, it provides detailed analysis on all government actions using GPD’s framework for disinformation and human rights.
Podcast
Listen to the In Beta podcast on the Disinformation Tracker.
For more information, please contact:
Expression, Information and Digital Rights Unit
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 4199
Fax: +27 (0) 86 580 5743
hlengiwe.dube@up.ac.za
Project Officer: Expression, Information and Digital Rights Unit
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 3810
Fax: +27 (0) 86 580 5743
marystella.simiyu@up.ac.za