African Commission’s Special Rapporteur to develop guidelines to monitor big tech

The Commission held a virtual meeting at its 82nd Ordinary Session from 25 February to 11 March 2025:

• recalling its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in Africa under Article 45(1) and (2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Charter);
• noting the importance to Africa of safeguarding and supporting universal access to quality public interest content as a central pillar for actualising the right of access to information on the continent;
• observing the expansion of digital connectivity and the enlarged range of actors producing audio and video, as well as generative AI tools which exponentially increase output that does not necessarily meet the threshold of public-interest content;
• recognising the rise of external online companies that offer African audiences a range of content (including advertising), much of which originates from African creators who upload edit and reversion content, and where audiences and influencers comment upon and share such content;
• aware that the African broadcast industry, which has traditionally focused on unidirectional programming available to free-to-air to audiences, and has been regulated accordingly, is now facing a fast-changing context;
• recognising that most of the new online services are not regulated to meet public interest benchmarks, such as requirements to provide information and factual news, education programmes, youth services, local content and languages, and impartiality on elections coverage;

bearing in mind that legacy broadcasters who seek to distribute their content on social media channels, are now dependent on intermediary gatekeepers who compete for advertising, operate algorithms that promote sensational content rather than public interest content, and do not recognise the editorial and ethical independence of media enterprises

• noting further that online subscription services for audio and video content are growing across the continent, and while these services may include types of public service content, by definition such output is universally available to the wider African public;
• concerned that these developments are putting in jeopardy the viability of public service and community broadcasters to deliver public service content in African languages and particularly to vulnerable communities;
• recognising the continuing importance of access to distinctively public service content in this context, and a corresponding need to overhaul policy frameworks to befit for purpose in the digital age;
• affirming milestones for African media and content policy such as the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa (2019), and the Windhoek+30 Declaration on Information as a Public Good (2021);
• highlighting the relevance of public service content for achieving Agenda 63: The Africa We Want, the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Continental Free Trade Area in its Regulatory Frameworks for the Communication Sector, and
• valuing initiatives such as the African Charter on Broadcasting (2001) and the role of many African civil society organisations and coalitions which advocate for public service media and public service content to be universally available and sustainable across the continent

The African Commission: 

i.    Calls on the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa (the Special Rapporteur) to consult with African role players with an interest in broadcasting, freedom of expression, media freedom, digital rights, access to information policy and lawmaking to assess their concept of public service content in current times;

ii.    Decides to mandate the Special Rapporteur to develop Guidelines for Member States that can assist them in developing a future-focused policy framework for universal access to public service content in Africa.

Regarding monitoring technology companies in respect of their duty to maintain information integrity through independent fact checking, the Commission:

• recalls its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in Africa under Article 45(1) and (2) of the African Charter;
• affirms Articles 2 and 9 on the rights of all peoples to enjoy the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the African Charter without distinction, including the rights to receive information, to express and disseminate opinions within the confines of the law;

reaffirms the provisions of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa which provide in Principle 5 that the same rights that people have offline should be protected online, in accordance with international human rights law and standards

• notes with deep concern the recent regress by technology companies with regard to information integrity and online protection of expression and access to information;
• underlines that the content moderation operations of these services of these technology companies in Africa should provide full coverage of African languages, have sufficient human resources in the loop of content assessment and users’ appeal, and ensure that Artificial Information (AI) systems are adequately trained to cover African languages;
• underscores that Community Notes mechanisms are not an alternative to the companies’ own responsibilities to uphold their corporate responsibilities and ‘community standards’, and declaring further that Community Notes are also not a substitute for independent fact-checking, and registering our concerns that Community Notes are susceptible to be captured by forces that do not respect human rights;
• notes the weaponisation of a particular social network, and its related AI services as representing a departure from the role of being a neutral platform, and questioning whether such changes raise the risk of political agendas, including foreign interference, being potentially harmful to information integrity on this platform and related AI services;
• calls on digital companies that provide services in Africa to adopt transparent human rights impact assessments as part of due diligence for any changes being contemplated, or for any upcoming risk situations, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, applying these assessments especially in cases of elections, health crises and the possibility of violent conflict, and
• further recognises the importance of comprehensive African access to the data held by technology companies, on a par with the highest standards in other regions, which is essential for knowledge about systemic risks to information integrity on their services as well as for independent assessments in relation thereto

The Commission calls on the Special Rapporteur to develop guidelines with all interested parties, such as civil society, regulatory bodies and technology companies, to enable States Parties to effectively monitor the platforms’ performance in order to inform of the efforts to advance information integrity online, including the role of independent fact-checking in the African context.