Change Makers What are some of the most promising innovations, best practices, and initiatives that are contributing to the expansion of Internet freedom and digital rights in Africa? One of the innovations is the solidarity that the Internet allows. For so long, the African continent was artificially separated, first of all with the artificial borders that we see in our countries today, and also the divisions along ethnic lines that have been exploited by local and international bad actors to further divide the continent and its population. What we see is that the Internet and social media platforms e.g., TikTok, Instagram, etc., are spaces where Africans can have rallying cries and can freely express solidarity for one another or for our different countries. I'm always heartened to see people in South Africa, for example, being outraged by the Internet shutdown in Gabon. This would have never happened before the Internet. So I think that solidarity, that ability to bond and to collectively organize to achieve better aims, is very interesting, probably not innovation per se, but it is a kind of historic innovation, if you will. In terms of technical innovations, I'm always amazed to see how much Africans, in general, are resilient in the face of a fast-changing digital environment. We're seeing, for instance, more discussions and innovations because of the fact that we have much to overcome. So people are using innovation to fast-track the changes we want to see and the changes to the difficulties that we see. I think that the conversations about AI had started on the continent among citizens way before our governments - which I don't think have actually started really taking a serious look at AI. I'm always heartened to see that citizens understand innovation much better and see the benefits of innovation much better and in advance of their rulers and leading officials. I'm very curious about initiatives in the gaming space and in the artificial intelligence space, but also in spaces that we're barely starting to talk about. Specifically about the Metaverse, which is not mainstream yet, but we are already seeing communities on the African continent getting together to reflect on what these types of immersive spaces can bring about for our digital spaces in Africa. What are some of the emerging threats or pressing challenges to Internet freedom in Africa, and how can we stay ahead of them? The most pressing challenge at the moment is related to content and how content is being governed on the Internet in general, but more specifically on platforms that host user-generated content. This is a more pressing issue because of the reaction of governments given the increased and targeted social media blockings e.g. in Senegal, where Tiktok was blocked recently (in October 2023). This is a sign that repressive governments will want to try to control the conversation, something that they cannot do anymore because of the Internet and its nature. This is important because if we interest ourselves in these issues, we can talk about hate speech, disinformation, and other harmful content, and how to address them. If we don’t discuss these, others will discuss and define them for the African continent. As African CSOs and citizens, we should seize the opportunity to define, in our own words, what the fight against these types of information will mean. A CIPESA Series 29