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Privacy Scorecard Review 2024: Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda
Deep Insights

Kampala: Unwanted Witness (2025), 117 pp.

"The evolving digital landscape across East Africa and beyond underscores the critical need for robust data protection and privacy frameworks. While countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritius, and Zimbabwe have made significant progress in establishing legal and institutional mechanisms to sa ... feguard personal data, challenges remain in enforcement, compliance, and public awareness. Kenya, despite being a leader in the region’s digital economy, continues to grapple with regulatory gaps, non-compliance, and weak enforcement of its Data Protection Act. The rise of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) necessitates stronger regulatory oversight, aligning with international best practices, including the GDPR and the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection. For Rwanda, ethical data governance is paramount in its rapidly digitalizing economy. Ensuring that privacy, dignity, and autonomy are upheld requires the active participation of government, the private sector, civil society, and citizens. This report has evaluated Rwanda’s Data Privacy and Protection Law, identifying both strengths and areas for improvement, particularly in compliance and enforcement across different sectors. Tanzania has demonstrated a commitment to data privacy through its Personal Data Protection and Privacy Act, but challenges in its legal and institutional frameworks hinder full implementation. Strengthening these frameworks by incorporating international legal obligations, particularly through the Malabo Convention, would enhance Tanzania’s data protection regime. Mauritius has taken commendable steps in aligning its Data Protection Act (DPA) 2017 with international standards, but translating this framework into effective protections remains a challenge. Inconsistencies in data collection, lack of transparency, and insufficient public awareness have impeded progress. To address these gaps, Mauritius must focus on legislative refinements, institutional strengthening, enforcement mechanisms, and public education. A comprehensive data breach response framework and active engagement in global data protection forums would further solidify its position as a regional leader in data protection. Zimbabwe’s Data Protection Act, though relatively new, has introduced significant measures to protect data subjects. There is an increasing recognition of data privacy rights across various sectors, with businesses and government agencies adopting privacy policies. However, challenges persist, including the lack of transparency reports and weak internal data breach resolution mechanisms. Strengthening compliance frameworks and promoting greater accountability are essential to fostering a more secure digital ecosystem. As digital economies continue to expand, cross-stakeholder collaboration is essential to ensuring that data protection is not just a legal requirement but a practical reality. Governments must strengthen regulatory oversight, businesses must prioritize compliance and transparency, and civil society must demand accountability and advocate for user rights. The protection of personal data is not just a legal obligation but a fundamental human right. Countries in the region have the opportunity to enhance digital trust, drive innovation, and foster economic growth by continuously refining their data protection laws and enforcement mechanisms. Moving forward, sustained efforts in policy development, international cooperation, and public engagement will be crucial in shaping a secure and privacy-conscious digital future." (Conclusion) more

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State of digital development and trends in the Arab States region: Challenges and opportunities

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 53 pp.

"This report offers a comprehensive snapshot of the region’s digital landscape, highlighting both remarkable progress and persisting challenges. Ninety-five per cent of the population in this region is covered by mobile broadband networks, and more than half of the countries have already achieved ... more

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Determinants of watchdog journalism: A global empirical approach

Basyouni Ibrahim Hamada, Abdel-Salam G. Abdel-Salam

International Communication Gazette, volume 87, issue 3 (2025), pp. 191-216

"This article introduces and examines a hierarchical model of influences that identifies the variables affecting the watchdog role of journalists at three levels: the societal (press freedom and democracy), the organizational (media ownership), and the individual (editorial autonomy and perceived in ... more

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An overview of digital service taxation

raul Katz

Geneva: ITU (2025), xi, 36 pp.

"The study’s first major conclusion is that taxes imposed both on operators and on consumers remain in place in many countries around the world. At least 74 countries impose taxes on service providers, whether environmentally related, import duties on equipment or VAT on equipment purchases. Simil ... arly, 145 countries impose VAT on mobile services, while 74 apply import duties on mobile devices. Secondly, some nuanced geographic patterns in terms of taxation approaches can be teased out from the data. The group of countries exempting equipment purchases from taxation include advanced economies and some less developed countries. This would indicate that this group is not only composed of countries that do not require equipment taxation to increase revenues but also countries that prioritize maximization of network coverage (stimulated by lower equipment taxes) over tax collection. That said, there appears to be countries, mostly concentrated in the developing world, with some middle-income economies, that still prioritize tax collection from import duties on equipment. Thirdly, unlike with network equipment, many countries were identified that exempt consumer devices from import duty or device-specific taxes. Furthermore, several developing countries were found to tax the import of devices at an extremely high rate. However, some countries have established consumer device taxation approaches aimed at reducing the purchasing acquisition cost. At the other end, some countries appear to have imposed high taxation on consumer devices. In addition to taxes on devices, affordability of telecommunications/ICTs for consumers is affected by VAT paid on mobile telecommunications services, a fairly common practice across countries. Of all services to which VAT is applied, the most prevalent service is outgoing international traffic, where rates range between 2.75 per cent and 20 per cent. Finally, many countries have enacted a digital service tax to address perceived gaps in corporate income-tax systems. This approach imposes a tax on gross receipts derived from digital advertising, data mining and other types of digital platform revenue. A few countries have already implemented national approaches aimed at tackling profit shifting by digital platforms. While many countries did not report the application of digital service taxes in the ITU Tariff Policies Survey, of the 115 nations that provided a response, only 17 reported applying a digital service tax, and the percentage applied varies from 3% (Fance) to 21% (Argentina). This limited evidence prevents us from understanding what the current trend is in this domain." (Conclusion) more

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Measuring digital development: The affordability of ICT services 2024

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 27 pp.

"This edition’s findings highlight important progress: in 2024, mobile broadband services have become more affordable in most regions and for most income groups, and a growing number of countries are meeting the Broadband Commission’s target of entry-level broadband services costing less than 2 ... more

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Measuring Digital Development: The ICT Development Index

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 36 pp.

"I am pleased to present the 2025 edition of the ICT Development Index (IDI). This is the third edition based on the revised methodology adopted by Member States in 2023. The current IDI is anchored in the concept of universal and meaningful connectivity (UMC), a term coined by ITU in 2021 that has ... more

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Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Deep Insights

Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (eds.)

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2025), 170 pp.

"• Engagement with traditional media sources such as TV, print, and news websites continues to fall, while dependence on social media, video platforms, and online aggregators grows. This is particularly the case in the United States where polling overlapped with the first few weeks of the new Trum ... p administration. Social media news use was sharply up (+6pp) but there was no ‘Trump bump’ for traditional sources. • Personalities and influencers are, in some countries, playing a significant role in shaping public debates. One-fifth (22%) of our United States sample says they came across news or commentary from popular podcaster Joe Rogan in the week after the inauguration, including a disproportionate number of young men. In France, young news creator Hugo Travers (HugoDécrypte) reaches 22% of under-35s with content distributed mainly via YouTube and TikTok. Young influencers also play a significant role in many Asian countries, including Thailand. • News use across online platforms continues to fragment, with six online networks now reaching more than 10% weekly with news content, compared with just two a decade ago. Around a third of our global sample use Facebook (36%) and YouTube (30%) for news each week. Instagram (19%) and WhatsApp (19%) are used by around a fifth, while TikTok (16%) remains ahead of X at 12%. • Data show that usage of X for news is stable or increasing across many markets, with the biggest uplift in the United States (+8pp), Australia (+6pp), and Poland (+6pp). Since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022 many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently. Rival networks like Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon are making little impact globally, with reach of 2% or less for news. • Changing platform strategies mean that video continues to grow in importance as a source of news. Across all markets the proportion consuming social video has grown from 52% in 2020 to 65% in 2025 and any video from 67% to 75%. In the Philippines, Thailand, Kenya, and India more people now say they prefer to watch the news rather than read it, further encouraging the shift to personality-led news creators. • Our survey also shows the importance of news podcasting in reaching younger, better-educated audiences. The United States has among the highest proportion (15%) accessing one or more podcasts in the last week, with many of these now filmed and distributed via video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. By contrast, many northern European podcast markets remain dominated by public broadcasters or big legacy media companies and have been slower to adopt video versions. • TikTok is the fastest growing social and video network, adding a further 4pp across markets for news and reaching 49% of our online sample in Thailand (+10pp) and 40% in Malaysia (+9pp). But at the same time people in those markets see the network as one of the biggest threats when it comes to false or misleading information, along with Facebook. • Overall, over half our sample (58%) say they remain concerned about their ability to tell what is true from what is false when it comes to news online, a similar proportion to last year. Concern is highest in Africa (73%) and the United States (73%), with lowest levels in Western Europe (46%). • When it comes to underlying sources of false or misleading information, online influencers and personalities are seen as the biggest threat worldwide (47%), along with national politicians (47%). Concern about influencers is highest in African countries such as Nigeria (58%) and Kenya (59%), while politicians are considered the biggest threat in the United States (57%), Spain (57%), and much of Eastern Europe." (Executive summary, page 10-11) more

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Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Deep Insights

Sanela Hodžic, Sandra B. Hrvatin

Sarajevo; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 57 pp.

"The results of the research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey suggest that the key determinants for the future of our media and democracies are the following: • The poor socio-economic status of journalists and their exposure to ... pressure and attacks, coupled with modest support mechanisms, cripple the ability of journalists to promote the public interest, report on key issues of public interest, and hold power to account. In the most extreme cases, the pressure involves imprisonment, interrogation, surveillance, and lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists. • The lack of consistent monitoring and registration of cases of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in the region, with dozens of lawsuits against journalists filed by political officials and their affiliates. • A growing number or media outlets, but a declining number of journalism students, highlighting concerns about the future shrinking of staff numbers in media newsrooms and about the growing automatization of journalism. The most drastic drop was in North Macedonia, with the number of journalism students in 2023 amounting to only 11% of the number from ten years ago and 50% of the number from 2000. • The number of media outlets is growing, mostly in the online sector, while print media outlets are becoming increasingly endemic. • A worrying trend of overt concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few media conglomerates, often tied to national or foreign governments, that takes a toll on media freedom and pluralism. • The dominant instrumentalization (through ownership and funding) of media (including private and public) for particular political and/or business interests limits the space for editorial independence and integrity. • Non-profit media are still a rarity in the region, with only a few non-profit radio broadcasters in some countries, and an unknown number of online platforms of civil society organizations with a community-focused mission. • Lack of transparency of the media sector, particularly a lack of accessible and reliable information concerning the media industry and the media market. • Advertising is the main source of revenues in the media sector, with the total revenues ranging between EUR 12 million in Montenegro and over EUR 4 billion in Turkey. • Although it is declining, the TV sector is still dominant in terms of its share of advertising revenues, while social media’s share is increasing, and in Turkey it amounts to as much as 45.7% of advertising revenues. • The tech giants such as Google and Meta are an increasingly dominant competitor for media outlets in the region, jeopardizing the future sustainability of national and local media outlets and potentially curbing political pluralism in public communication. • Public funding for the media, including funding of public broadcasters (declining in four out of seven countries), grants, and subsidies for media outlets and government advertising, amounts to several to dozens of millions of euros per country, taking up an important share of media revenues, but without proactive transparency, effective guarantees of editorial independence, well-defined purpose and evaluation, the opportunities to make public funding for the media an important instrument of media democratization remain under-used. • The representation of different age, gender, ethnic, religious, and other groups in media content and in the newsrooms’ staff is limited. In multiethnic communities some policies promote ethnic diversity of media content, while other identity axes are largely neglected and pluralism in public communication is very limited. Women are an important, and in many countries even dominant, workforce in the media, but remain underrepresented in managerial posts." (Executive summary) more

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State of digital development and trends in the CIS region: Challenges and opportunities

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 47 pp.

"This publication offers a comprehensive overview of digital development in the CIS region. The data reveal a region where nine in ten people are online—well above the global average—and where mobile broadband networks now cover virtually the entire population. These are important milestones. At ... more

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State of digital development and trends in Asia and the Pacific: Challenges and opportunities

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 53 pp.

"[...] While mobile broadband covers over 95 per cent of the population, disparities persist. High-income economies lead in 5G deployment and innovation, while lower-income countries face infrastructure, affordability, and digital literacy gaps. The urban-rural divide remains, and women and marginal ... more

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State of digital development and trends in the Africa region: Challenges and opportunities

Geneva: ITU (2025), iv, 49 pp.

"This publication reveals that the gap between ambition and reality remains wide. Mobile broadband coverage has expanded rapidly, offering most of the population the possibility of going online. And yet, only 38 per cent of the population currently uses the Internet—the lowest rate among all ITU r ... more

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The Role of Trust and Attitudes toward Democracy in the Dissemination of Disinformation: A Comparative Analysis of Six Democracies

Edda Humprecht

Digital Journalism, volume 13, issue 5 (2025), pp. 931-948

"Trust lies at the heart of the disinformation crisis, as citizens must decide which narratives to follow and whether to accept “alternative truths.” Therefore, trust in institutions that publish reliable information can act as a shield against disinformation. This comparative study investigates ... more

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Global Index on Responsible AI 2024
Deep Insights

Rachel Adams, Fola Adeleke, Ana Florido, Larissa Galdino de Magalhães Santos, Nicolás Grossman, Leah Junck, Kelly Stone

Global Center on AI Governance (2024), 62 pp.

"The First Edition of the GlRAI revealed that global progress toward responsible AI is lagging far behind the development and adoption of AI. There are major gaps across many parts of the world and in many core areas of responsible AI, especially those areas related to protecting the rights of vuln ... more

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Google Scholar (218)

WorldCat (253)

“We don’t believe in [the] Coronavirus; we believe in Allah. Whatever happens, it happens from Allah”: Pakistani media’s response to countering conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic

Madeeha Naz, Amir Hamza Marwan

Newspaper Research Journal, volume 46, issue 1 (2024), pp. 6-28

"This study examines the coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic by the four leading newspapers of Pakistan—Dawn, The News, Daily Times and The Nation—when they were responsible for informing and educating the public during a health crisis hit by conspiracy theories. The researchers utilized content a ... more

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Global Perspectives on Press Regulation. Volume 2: Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania

András Koltay, Paul Wragg

London: Hart Publishing (2024), 368 pp.

"In this ground-breaking two-volume set, world-leading experts produce a rich, authoritative depiction of the world's press, its freedom, and its limits. We want press freedom but we also want freedom from the press. A powerful press may expose corrupt government or aid it. It may champion citizens ... more

Google Scholar (216)

WorldCat (271)

Mobilisations sociales à l'épreuve du numérique : Une comparaison France-Algérie

Fetta Belgacem

Paris: L'Harmattan (2024), 285 pp.

"Les pratiques « médiactivistes » numériques offrent de nouveaux cadres pour la formation et le développement des mobilisations sociales contemporaines. Elles élargissent le champ de la lutte et incitent à s'interroger sur le rôle que jouent les dispositifs numériques dans l'amplification o ... more

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Journalism Practices in Western and Muslim Majority Countries: Culture Matters

Basyouni Ibrahim Hamada, Abdel-Salam G. Abdel-Salam, Saba Bebawi

International Journal of Press/Politics, volume 30, issue 4 (2024), pp. 1046-1070

"In this article, we suggest that the ideological cultural forces explain the differences in journalism practices in Western and Muslim majority countries (MMC). It is argued that the norms, values, and the deep political culture of the West and MMC have been materialized leading to different types ... more

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Global Cybersecurity Index 2024

Geneva: ITU, 5th ed. (2024), viii, 139 pp.

"The fifth edition of the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) measures the commitment of countries to cybersecurity in the context of measures across the following five pillars: legal; technical; organizational; capacity development; cooperation. The GCI, launched in 2015 by the International Telecommu ... more

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Transparence voilée : L'information publique demeure difficile d'accès en dépit des progrès de la législation sur le droit à l'information

Anne Okello, Sopie Sunderland, Sophie Asunka

Afrobarometer (2024), 17 pp.

"A travers les 39 pays sondés en 2021/2023, la majorité des Africains sont favorables à l'accès du public à des informations telles que les budgets des collectivités locales, les appels d'offres et les contrats des collectivités locales, et même les salaires des fonctionnaires et des enseign ... more

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Veiled transparency: Access to public information remains elusive despite progress on right-to-information laws

Anne Okello, Sophie Sunderland, Joseph Asunka

Afrobarometer (2024), 17 pp.

"Across 39 countries surveyed in 2021/2023, a majority of Africans express support for public access to information such as local government budgets, local government bids and contracts, and even the salaries of public officials and teachers. But although demand for public information is high, few c ... more

Privacy Scorecard Review 2024: Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda Deep Insights

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 Deep Insights

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview Deep Insights

Global Index on Responsible AI 2024 Deep Insights

Privacy Scorecard Review 2024: Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda
Deep Insights

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025
Deep Insights

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Deep Insights

Global Index on Responsible AI 2024
Deep Insights