Change Makers What are some of the emerging threats or pressing challenges to Internet freedom in Africa, and how can we stay ahead of them? The operating environment for advocates, which also encompasses researchers, professors, engineers, and anyone aspiring to contribute to Internet freedom, presents significant challenges. These constraints significantly hinder efforts in advancing Internet freedom. I hope I don't sound like a pessimist–but it's just that the space is so closed, at least in northern Africa. I don't follow all of the countries in Africa as closely as I want to. But ultimately, a common trend is the diminishing civic space, which also affects academia. This constriction hampers our ability to operate flexibly. For instance, if a researcher wants to explore topics like disinformation or troll armies, conducting such studies is exceedingly difficult unless they're affiliated with a Western country or university. This external perspective often leads to research that lacks on-the-ground insights, resembling more of an 'ivory tower' approach rather than engaging with the real-life context The biggest threat, in my view, lies in the absence of democratic nation-states characterised by accountability, transparency, and the full exercise of citizens' rights. I'm also at a loss. Ultimately, it's very hard for me to even talk about these things. For example, the situation in Tunisia has deteriorated significantly. Despite our best efforts, there has been such regression that my ability to remain as actively involved as I would like is now questionable. The situation has changed a lot. A CIPESA Series The way advocates use social media has also changed. It has always been corporate, about data and the bottom line that these companies are extracting from our usage of their products. Today, our relationship with social media exists independently of everything else. It exists independently of the context of where countries were in the early 2010s. Back then, repressive regimes underestimated the power of the Internet. Civil society advocates understood it and used it as an advantage to get ahead of threats, organise, and elevate marginalised voices to mainstream visibility. Advocates and activists, once operating in obscurity, utilised the Internet to amplify their message and garner mainstream support.I think today that has changed a lot because the relationship that exists between companies and users now exists in the context where governments are very aware of how to use the Internet. In fact, they are using the Internet to repress, So we're in a situation where the complete opposite exists. The only reason a revolution was able to happen in Tunisia was because the regime didn't understand the power of the Internet. They knew of it, but they didn't understand the potential that social media held for social mobilization on the ground, how it translated from being online to offline, and how they linked together. For example, how sharing a video on YouTube of a protest in one part of the country could lead to protests in other parts of the country. They were not able to really capture how it spread like fire, but now they do. So now I think social media can't really be used as an avenue because it is highly surveilled and highly censored. Unfortunately, we see a lot of “fake news” legislation to counter disinformation, but really they are being used to restrict people's right to free expression. You can tell because the legislation itself is not very detailed and is often too broad. 45