"Despite strong international condemnation, there is growing acceptance of internet shutdowns as a legitimate response to online content that governments—particularly in Africa—find concerning. This article explores government decision- making around internet shutdowns during contentious periods
...
such as elections and in situations of violent conflict. In arguing for a reading of shutdowns that goes beyond simply seeing them as a blunt tool of censorship, it discusses the underlying issues, including the vast inequalities between Big Tech companies based in the United States or China and resource- poor countries in the Global South. Building on this, the article probes the intensifying disputes around who writes the rules governing how social media companies address harmful content, how such rules are implemented, and, finally, what this means for the postcolonial state in Africa. In some contexts, a government's use of shutdowns represents an effort to reassert sovereignty amid a longstanding context of contestation around borders, power, and national identity." (Abstract)
more
"This article focuses on the AI for Social Good (AI4SG) movement, which aims to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). It argues that, through AI4SG, Big Tech is attempting to advance AIdriven technosolut
...
ionism within the development policy and scholarly space creating new opportunities for rent extraction. The article situates AI4SG, within the history of ICT4D. It also highlights the contiguity of AI4SG with the so-called 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), a framework that places AI and other digital innovations at the center of national and international development and industrial policy agendas. By exploring how Big Tech has attempted to depoliticize datafication, we thus suggest that AI4SG and 4IR are mutually reinforcing discourses that serve the purpose of depoliticizing the development arena by bestowing legitimacy and authority to Big Tech to reshape policy spaces and epistemic infrastructures while inserting themselves, to an unprecedented degree, between the citizen (data) and the state (development and policy)." (Abstract)
more
"This state-of-the-art Handbook provides unique insights into the governance practices and institutions shaping digitalized public spheres. Focusing on the power relations involved, it presents diverse approaches to key debates in media and communication governance, showcasing groundbreaking advance
...
s in the field. Contributing authors explore the impact of long-standing trends such as commercialization, digitalization and transnationalization on media and communication governance, highlighting urgent new developments including algorithmization and datafication. Combining theoretical inquiry with cutting-edge empirical analysis, they address governance challenges at the regional, national and global levels to provide a broad view of the social ordering of media systems. Ultimately, the Handbook explores how to protect the public sphere in the digital age and ensure that media organizations and platforms meet democratic expectations." (Publisher description)
more
"From Ethiopia to Sudan, there has been significant concern about the role of hate speech and incitement on social media to promote offline violence and, at its most extreme, genocide. These questions have become more urgent with the growth of large language models and Artificial Intelli-gence that
...
are increasingly shaping online speech and may amplify existing concerns. In this paper, we interrogate the assumptions and myths about the causal link between online speech and its impact on the offline world by evaluating the empirical evidence. Overall, we found that there is limited ev-idence pointing to this direct association and, in line with broader literature on the underlying causes of violence, our review points to longer-term contextual, historical, and economic factors that often drive conflict, particularly in Africa. We conclude by identifying major evidence gaps and highlighting the need for caution when attributing the impact of online hate speech on violence." (Abstract)
more
"Internet shutdowns in Africa are becoming increasingly widespread, particularly when governments face competitive or contentious elections. They have also come to symbolise a widening fracture between competing conceptions of the global Internet and its regulation. Governments in Africa are justify
...
ing shutdowns as able address misinformation and disinformation, protect the election process, and ensure national security. International organisations, NGOs, and social networking platforms condemn these as an inadmissible form of censorship and information control, an abuse by political actors seeking to silence critics or manipulate elections. This article offers an alternative reading on internet shutdowns by placing them in the historical context of the wide range of information controls around elections, many of which are widely regarded as being acceptable and legitimate mechanisms to support competitive elections. By offering this context, we can ask what is new about shutdowns and whether they can ever be regarded as a proportionate response to real concerns of social media and election manipulation. We conclude by highlighting the inequalities of online content moderation as an often-overlooked factor in driving the use of shutdowns, and the failure of social media companies to effectively address misinformation and disinformation in Africa, particularly around elections." (Abstract)
more
"What are root causes of trust and distrust in media in different political contexts? How is media use shifted from one source to another with the change of political culture? What factors shape media perception across cultures and across political regimes? Are there commonalities or are they differ
...
ent? Given the common instrumentalization of media in conflict environments and the growing ubiquity of political media capture, we may also ask, whether unfettered trust in media is normatively desirable under any circumstances. Put differently: Isn’t distrust a healthy response to propaganda and media manipulation? How is the concept of media literacy connected to trust or media scepticism? Do we need to be more sceptical rather than gullible? Against the backdrop of these (and other) questions, the Forum Media and Development (fome) dedicated its 2021 annual symposium to the question of trust in media, namely the question how media perception is shaped differently by different political contexts and media structures across the globe. Fome is the German platform for international media development initiatives (fome.info), a network that includes 24 organizations working towards strengthening free and independent media in developing and transitioning countries. The 2021 fome-symposium ran under the heading “Believe it or Not! Enquiries about TRUST in media (assistance)” and was organized by MiCT. The proceedings of the conference can be found online at https://fome.info/symposium-2021-documentation. Finally, this themed issue of the Global Media Journal – German Edition is curated as an extension of the conference and an effort to follow up upon some of the most pressing questions deriving from it." (Editorial)
more
"[...] While mass media, including TV or radio, have long been recognised as a key actor in the escalation of violent conflicts, the scale of dissemination and the degree of accountability of digital actors involved is different. Although the doctrine of information intervention initially evolved to
...
address concerns around the role of mass media in conflict, it can provide inspiration for adjusting legal frameworks, and core foundational tenets such as the Responsibility to Protect, to address the risks coming from the spread of hate speech and disinformation to social media channels. Nevertheless, the peculiarities of social media require a different approach, and one that includes the responsibilities of social media companies and has at its core, accountable content moderation. Private companies like social media can be both tools of intervention and barriers to intervention. Therefore, Information Intervention Councils (IIC) could have a crucial role in increasing the degree of proceduralisation of information intervention and avoiding disproportionate interference with states’ sovereignty and human rights. There are some limits regarding the role of IIC with regard to participation of stakeholders, the complexity in dealing with escalation, and the effectiveness of its guidelines. However, the establishment of such a system, within regional or international bodies, would increase global awareness while providing a framework to address the spread of online hate and disinformation escalating offline harms including genocide and ethnic cleansing." (Conclusion)
more
"Internet shutdowns are on the rise. In the past few years, an escalation of this blunt censoring practice has affected different regions of the world, particularly Africa and Asia. Scholars and advocates have proposed no substantive solutions to effectively address Internet shutdowns, and analysis
...
has largely been limited to examining the negative effects through data about their frequency, duration, and economic costs. This article attempts to move beyond the polarized debate between “keep it on” and “shut it off” to explore how there can be more transparency around decision-making processes behind Internet shutdowns. We also discuss the limits of law when it comes to the imposition and implementation of shutdowns. Shutdowns tend to be imposed somewhat arbitrarily with little process. Bringing back legal arguments into the exploration of the justifications around shutdowns may make the use of shutdowns less frequent and more limited, when they do occur." (Abstract)
more
"Since the collapse of the Somali state in the early 1990s, the country has been one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Many have been killed with impunity and the majority of those that have been killed where the perpetrator is known have been connected to political groups,
...
including a range of actors such as government forces, parastatals including the Islamist group, Al-Shabaab and businessmen. The lines between such authorities are often blurred. While the targeting and assassination of journalists is certainly one key aspect of potential transitional justice process, it is not the only one. This article explores the variety of ways that journalists contribute and participate in violence and how transitional justice processes must grapple with these nuances and complexities. Drawing on examples from other countries, including South Africa and the former Yugoslavia, the article reflects on the different ways that media intersects with transitional justice processes in Somalia." (Abstract)
more
"This article explores the prevailing ways Internet shutdowns are currently understood and makes the case for a new conceptualization—one that recognizes the inherent diversity of cases and how and why they are employed. To do so, we focus on Internet shutdowns in Africa, drawing on data collected
...
during our ongoing research into the politics and practice of social media and conflict in Africa. Though Africa is not the only continent on which Internet shutdowns are taking place, it provides a landscape where the presence of various alternative versions of shutdowns produces important reactions and policy outcomes. A spectrum approach allows for more nuanced conceptualization rather than thinking of shutdowns as a homogeneous technique. This recognizes the variations—both subtle and extreme—among different aspects of Internet shutdowns, including their frequency, duration, breadth, depth, and speed. It also helps to situate this practice more clearly within the wider landscape of other approaches to censorship and offers indications as to how Internet shutdowns might evolve in the future." (Abstract)
more
"There is an evolution underway in terms of how Internet access is perceived and understood. The view that Internet access should be a fundamental right has continued to gain traction. At the same time, concerns are increasing about the very real threat of offline harm posed by the dissemination of
...
misinformation and hate speech online. This Special Section looks at these tensions within the context of one particularly extreme solution to perceived online threats: shutting off Internet access. While Internet shutdowns have now occurred across nearly all continents, they are on the rise in Africa, where some of the longest shutdowns have taken place. This Special Section brings together authors from law, communications, political science, and human rights to encourage a reevaluation of how we understand Internet shutdowns by reframing how they are situated within a broader landscape of other censorship and infrastructure challenges. The articles in this collection examine the causes and effects of shutdowns in the African context and challenge our current thinking about them." (Abstract)
more
"Theorising Media and Conflict is the result of a joint and interdisciplinary effort to set the theoretical and empirical agenda in theorising upon the complex relationship between media and conflict. By considering the theorisation work accomplished by the ‘Anthropology of Media’ series forerun
...
ner Theorising Media and Practice (edited by Bräuchler and Postill), it takes the notion of media (as) practice to new terrain. It thus counters studies that display Western biases, normative assumptions and unsubstantiated claims about ‘media effects’ in conflict situations. Through ground-up theorising, careful contextualisation, comparative perspectives, ethnographic and other qualitative methods, it provides evidence for the co-constitutiveness of media and conflict, and contributes to the consolidation of media and conflict as a distinct area of scholarship. While the contributions to this book deal with different kinds of media and conflict situations in distinct world regions and examine various aspects of media use, they all engage with media and conflict dynamics from a participant’s perspective as well as from an analytical perspective. Such an approach allows for the theorisation of media and conflict beyond a particular type of media, conflict or region." (Preface, page ix-x)
more
"This book investigates the role of media and communication in processes of democratization in different political and cultural contexts. Struggles for democratic change are periods of intense contest over the transformation of citizenship and the reconfiguration of political power. These democratiz
...
ation conflicts are played out within an increasingly complex media ecology where traditional modes of communication merge with new digital networks, thus bringing about multiple platforms for journalists and political actors to promote and contest competing definitions of reality. The volume draws on extensive case study research in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Serbia to highlight the ambivalent role of the media as force for democratic change, citizen empowerment, and accountability, as well as driver of polarization, radicalization and manipulation." (Publisher description)
more
"This collection is the first of its kind on the topic of media development. It brings together luminary thinkers in the field—both researchers and practitioners—to reflect on how advocacy groups, researchers, the international community and others can work to ensure that media can continue to s
...
erve as a force of democracy and development. But that mission faces considerable challenges. Media development paradigms are still too frequently associated with Western prejudices, or out of touch with the digital age. As we move past Western blueprints and into an uncertain digital future, what does media development mean? If we are to act meaningfully to shape the future of our increasingly mediated societies, we must answer this question." (Publisher description)
more
"Countries emerging from violent conflict face difficult challenges about what the role of media should be in political transitions, particularly when attempting to build a new state and balance a difficult legacy. Media, Conflict, and the State in Africa discusses how ideas, institutions and intere
...
sts have shaped media systems in some of Africa's most complex state and nation-building projects. This timely book comes at a turbulent moment in global politics as waves of populist protests gain traction, and concerns continue to grow about fake news, social media echo chambers, and the increasing role of both traditional and new media in waging wars or influencing elections. Focusing on comparative cases from a historical perspective and the choices and ideas that informed the approaches of some of Africa's leaders, including guerrilla commanders Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Nicole Stremlau offers a unique political insight into the development of contemporary media systems in Africa." (Publisher description)
more
"Nous observons ainsi des mutations profondes dans le champ de la liberté de la presse, qui progresse sur plusieurs points, mais recule également dans certains autres. La liberté des médias est notamment limitée par de nombreuses restrictions légales sur le droit de communiquer des information
...
s et des idées, bien que des progrès soient observés en ce qui concerne les garanties juridiques à chercher et à recevoir de l’information. En ce qui concerne le pluralisme des médias, les cinq dernières années ont vu la multiplication considérable des sources d’information. Pourtant, la concentration de la propriété des médias et des services Internet soulève des préoccupations majeures. Les effets de filtrage des médias sociaux, qui créent des « bulles » dans lesquelles les gens n’accèdent pas à la vérité ou aux « points de vue » qu’ils jugeraient « gênants » ou « inappropriés » sont un exemple. La manipulation et la diffusion de fausses informations par des organes de propagande en sont un autre. On note également un arrêt des progrès sur l’égalité des genres dans les contenus et en personnel. Les tendances montrent que l’indépendance des médias s’affaiblit et que les normes professionnelles du journalisme s’érodent sous l’effet des forces économiques d’un côté et du manque de reconnaissance de la part des acteurs politiques de l’autre. Les entreprises de médias et de l’Internet sont de plus en plus conscientes de la nécessité de s’autoréguler. En ce qui concerne enfin la sécurité physique, psychologique et numérique des journalistes, les tendances restent extrêmement alarmantes, même si la mise en oeuvre du Plan d’Action des Nations Unies sur la sécurité des journalistes et la question de l’impunité représente un espoir. Il existe un nouvel élan pour des mécanismes de suivi, de prévention, de protection et de renforcement de la justice pour les crimes commis contre les journalistes. Cet élan doit être encouragé." (Avant-propos, pages 10-11)
more
"This volume explores how societies are addressing challenging questions about the relationship between expression, traditional and societal values, and the transformations introduced by new information communications technologies. It seeks to identify alternative approaches to the role of speech an
...
d expression in the organization of societies as well as efforts to shape the broader global information society. How have different societies or communities drawn on the ideas of philosophers, religious leaders or politicians, both historical and contemporary, that addressed questions of speech, government, order or freedoms and applied them, with particular attention to applications in the digital age? The essays include a wide variety of cultural and geographic contexts to identify different modes of thinking. The goal is to both unpack the 'normative' internet and free expression debate and to deepen understanding about why certain internet policies and models are being pursued in very different local or national contexts as well as on a global level." (Publisher description)
more