Africa Internet Governance Forum 2025

Democratic processes, especially free and fair elections, face a growing threat from disinformation. While complex, this issue is significantly driven by the design of commercial digital platforms—their attention-maximizing algorithms and targeted advertising systems are exploited by malicious actors and amplified by generative AI to manipulate public discourse.

Countering this requires not only promoting access to information as a public good but also enabling its effective use. Disinformation often thrives on low literacy and unequal access, but a further challenge lies in translating available data into actionable public knowledge. This necessitates robust collaboration among diverse stakeholders – fact-checkers, media, researchers, and civil society – to analyse data and make it accessible, fostering informed citizenship. Legal frameworks supporting data access and free expression, such as those in Africa, are foundational but require stronger implementation.
To proactively address these challenges, RIA and IMS are dedicated to building stakeholder coalitions capable of defending information integrity. This session aims to identify specific threats within the African information landscape and forge collaborative partnerships prepared to safeguard the electoral environment.

This session forms part of RIA and IMS's participatory research on effective media coalitions during elections, employing threat identification mapping similar to successful work during the recent Ghanaian elections. The findings will inform ongoing tracking, analysis, and research reporting.
The session also aims to contribute to stakeholder dialogues and a coordinated response to issues of electoral disinformation and information disorders broadly. We aim to awareness and build new alliances and networks on mitigating information disorders. RIA and IMS will publicize the session on organisation social media platforms as well as share a post session report capturing key issues from the session discussions.

Across Africa, the internet holds enormous potential to empower voices, enable democratic participation, and drive social change. Yet for many women and marginalized groups, digital spaces have become increasingly dangerous. The rise of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV); including online harassment, cyberstalking, non-consensual image sharing, deepfake attacks, and targeted disinformation—poses a direct threat to freedom of expression, political participation, mental health, and digital inclusion.

TFGBV is not just a gender issue, it is a governance failure, a cybersecurity risk, and a trust crisis. It thrives in environments where platforms lack accountability, laws are outdated or absent, and survivor-centered systems are underdeveloped. Its impact is not only personal, it shapes public discourse, erodes civic trust, and pushes women out of digital and political spaces.

This session brings TFGBV into the heart of the Internet Governance Forum agenda. It will examine how digital violence manifests across African contexts, why responses remain inadequate, and what is needed to build resilient, inclusive, and rights-respecting digital ecosystems. The session will draw on the expertise of legal actors, digital rights defenders, technologists, policymakers, and those directly impacted by online violence.

Rationale
TFGBV is a growing digital threat across Africa, silencing voices, deepening inequality, and undermining participation in civic and political life. Despite its scale, TFGBV remains overlooked in cybersecurity and internet governance frameworks, with limited legal protections and inadequate platform accountability. Addressing TFGBV is not just about safety, it’s about upholding rights, building digital trust, and ensuring inclusive access. This session brings TFGBV to the forefront of digital governance, calling for coordinated, survivor-centered responses to make Africa’s digital spaces safe and empowering for all.
Together, they will identify strategies to
1. Embed protection against TFGBV in cybersecurity and digital safety frameworks;
2. Advance multistakeholder collaboration for prevention, mitigation, and redress;
3. Design inclusive, survivor-informed solutions that center trust, justice, and dignity.

Session Objectives
1. Highlight the forms, drivers, and impact of TFGBV in African digital ecosystems;
2. Identify gaps in legal, institutional, and platform responses;
3. Showcase survivor-centered, context-aware approaches to digital safety;
4. Encourage multistakeholder actions to address TFGBV in internet governance discussions;
5. Promote alignment with cybersecurity, trust, and digital cooperation frameworks

Expected Outcomes
1. A shared set of recommendations for integrating TFGBV into internet governance and digital safety agendas;
2. Strengthened partnerships between gender rights defenders, digital policymakers, and tech stakeholders;
3. Documentation of best practices and survivor-informed strategies for response and prevention;
4. Increased recognition of TFGBV as a cybersecurity and trust issue, not just a social or gender issue.

This roundtable aims to bring together key stakeholders in AI governance to advance the adoption of truly inclusive AI development and governance practices tailored to the unique needs and challenges of Africa. As the continent rapidly embraces AI technologies, it is crucial that these innovations drive inclusive economic and social development, ensuring that AI ecosystems are responsive to local contexts, priorities, and the diverse needs of African communities.

AI has the potential to address pressing challenges in Africa, but without inclusive policies, growing inequalities and a lack of diversity in AI development risk sidelining the voices and perspectives of historically marginalized groups. African countries, with their rich cultural diversity and unique social, economic, and political landscapes, require AI governance frameworks that are grounded in local expertise and realities. A transformative AI policy approach in Africa seeks to mitigate disparities, ensure AI development is not harmful, and guarantee that AI systems work to benefit everyone, particularly those often excluded from the tech industry.

This discussion will explore concrete strategies for policymakers and AI stakeholders in Africa to address systemic inequalities and ensure meaningful participation in decision-making processes around AI development, deployment, and governance. These strategies will be informed by the contributions of over 200 participants from more than 50 countries, including African countries, who contributed to the GPAI Report and Policy Guide Towards Substantive Equality in Artificial Intelligence. This guide focuses on gender equality and diversity, providing a foundation for policies that resonate with the African context.

The session will highlight how multistakeholder collaboration can drive AI governance in Africa that is participatory, just, and globally representative. It will also examine how to ensure that AI policies reflect the continent’s diverse local realities and priorities. By exploring real-world examples, participants will discuss actionable steps for translating inclusive AI governance from principles to practice across Africa. In addition, the conversation will strengthen the capacity for policy impact, empowering African governments, civil society, the private sector, and academic institutions to collaborate effectively.

Transformative AI policy on the continent aligns with key global frameworks such as the OECD AI principles, the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Global Digital Compact. These frameworks call for the alignment of AI systems with human rights and promote gender equality and diversity in AI ecosystems. By leveraging these global principles, Africa can ensure that its AI systems are designed in ways that enhance their quality, usability, and effectiveness, contributing to a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous future for all African countries.

In 2025, a myriad of processes and initiatives at the intersection of sustainable development and Internet governance will continue to be implemented. In this context, defining and defending the importance of a multistakeholder model to Internet governance is critical. The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process is a key internet governance process and has been instrumental in forging connections between digital technologies and development across contexts.

This critical role must continue in the future. To do this, the WSIS Forum must build on, support, and integrate new and existing forums and processes. This includes affirming the renewal of the mandate of the IGF and integrating the implementation of the Global Digital Compact into the WSIS ecosystem. It must also uphold multistakeholder principles and facilitate an inclusive process. As we approach the 2025 WSIS+20 review, there is a critical need to raise awareness of the WSIS+20 process and articulate a vision for how the Forum can promote a multistakeholder approach to internet governance and support human rights, development, and achievement of the SDGs.

This multistakeholder roundtable discussion will bring together policymakers, the technical community, civil society, and academia to explore how stakeholders can leverage the WSIS Forum to advance a commitment to the open, global, and interoperable Internet and the SDGs. In particular, the session will explore:
1. How can the WSIS+20 process be leveraged to achieve the SDGs and promote human rights, particularly across African countries? Are there past examples of WSIS implementation to learn from?
2. How can the WSIS+20 facilitate an inclusive and multistakeholder process? How have governments integrated stakeholders into WSIS+20 preparations thus far? Are there best practices, including the São Paulo Multistakeholder Guidelines for multistakeholder consensus-building and decision-making, that should be integrated?
3. In practice, how should the WSIS+20 process integrate other initiatives, such as affirming the renewal of the IGF mandate and integrating the implementation of the Global Digital Compact?

(AI) has made a grand entrance, not just as a guest but as a potential co-judge in trial settings.
The integration of AI in the legal system, while on the surface technologically impressive, raises significant concerns about the infringement of a defendant's fundamental rights, particularly the right to a fair trial. The biases embedded in AI algorithms can potentially violate several cornerstone principles of justice.

the landmark case of State v. Loomis (2016) in Wisconsin. Eric Loomis was sentenced to six years in prison, partly based on a risk assessment provided by an AI tool called COMPAS (Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions). Loomis argued that the use of COMPAS violated his rights, as he was unable to challenge the scientific validity and potential biases of the tool. if an AI tool used for evidence analysis is fed historical data that contains racial biases, the AI is likely to perpetuate these biases. A study demonstrated this with risk assessment tools used in criminal sentencing, showing that these tools can (and tend to) inherit and amplify racial biases present in the historical arrest data.

There are many real-life instances where biased AI has led to questionable trial outcomes. In the case of "People v. Bridges" in Michigan (2019), Robert Bridges was wrongfully arrested based on a flawed facial recognition match. The software erroneously identified Bridges as a shoplifting suspect, despite significant physical differences. His case highlights the dangers of relying on AI without enough adequate safeguards in place.

The main objective of the session is to discuss the potential concerns from the AI-induced biases and their not-so-subtle implications for a defendant's right to a fair trial, and reach a essential principles and safeguards that should be adopted and taking into account when using AI in Courts and to how guarantee and protect the right to justice and fair trial.
The main goal of the session to reach out a number of recommendations, guiding principles and safeguards of fair trial when using AI system in the courts. Exchange the experience with audience is essential to reach out the concrete principles.
According the discussion the organizer will form a working group to deep dive in the topic and discuss the topic in details. The organizer with the participants who will interest in the topic will work together to develop a policy paper in national and regional level.