Dr. Ruth Owino providing her comments at a fact-checking workshop organised by Africa Check and UNESCO.
By Dr. Ruth Owino
In the digital age, connectivity and information access come with challenges, notably the rise of hate speech and misinformation. Kenya, like many nations, grapples with these issues across platforms. The Kenyan landscape is marked by the dissemination of disinformation, misinformation, and hate speech, threatening the social fabric. Digital platforms and tech companies contribute to facilitating the spread of online harmful content. As such, it is also their responsibility to jointly tackle this issue, and there is a need to explore avenues to ensure robust content moderation while safeguarding freedom of expression.
Effectively counteracting these issues requires a multi-sectoral approach, which means leveraging on the expertise of diverse stakeholders. Regulators, policymakers, media stakeholders, CSOs, tech companies, and academia, can collaborate to formulate innovative strategies to address the root causes of digital misinformation. Digital platforms aren’t just conduits; they can be powerful tools for peace-building. Encouraging a collective commitment to content moderation and freedom of expression transforms these platforms into forces for positive change, demanding collaboration, transparency, and responsible use.
The fight against hate speech and misinformation is a shared responsibility, requiring experts from various sectors to foster understanding and enable effective solutions. Tech companies, as influential players, actively engage in initiatives promoting responsible platform use. They can collaborate with regulators and policymakers to implement robust content moderation policies and promote digital literacy.
Cross-sectoral partnerships ensure that well-rounded perspectives are considered and can spark the creation of innovative strategies to counter hate speech and misinformation. A collective commitment to fostering social media for peace, robust content moderation, and safeguarding freedom of expression contributes to a more inclusive, informed, and peaceful online environment.
Organised by Build Up and supported by UNESCO, the annual conference discusses challenges to peace building in a digital era, including the spread of mis/disinformation and hate speech on digital platforms, and explores emerging innovations to address these challenges.
Themed “How technology and the arts influence identities relevant to peace and conflict”, this year’s conference provided a platform for reflection and expert discussions on the role of identities in conflict dynamics, particularly in Kenya and the East African region.
The three-day convening featured expert panels, short talks, presentations, and a series of interactive workshops from digital peacebuilding leaders and innovators worldwide. Novel perspectives emerged from the interdisciplinary dialogues on transformative practices in peace, conflict and innovation.
“We are only mapping conflict, not the pockets of peace. I’ve not seen a dashboard telling me where things are working and why. In this regard, digital peacebuilding may be different from traditional peacebuilding. We can and need to map spaces of hope too.”
— Caleb Gichuhi, Build Up/ FECoMo
At the conference, UNESCO and FECoMo hosted a workshop to showcase the good practices, lessons learnt, and achievements under the Social Media 4 Peace, a multi-year project funded by European Union that aims to strengthen the resilience of civil society to address potentially harmful content spread online. The project is also implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia and Indonesia.
The project has made significant strides in strengthening the resilience of societies to the spread of harmful content online. It focuses particularly on combatting hate speech inciting violence, while protecting freedom of expression and enhancing the promotion of peace through digital technologies, especially social media.
The establishment of FECoMo was a key milestone of the project in Kenya and has strengthened cross-sectoral partnerships between national regulators, line government agencies, community media networks, academia, CSOs, NGOs, INGOs, think tanks, and civic tech companies. Thus far, it has advanced several discussions on approaches to localize content moderation and formulate Kenyan context-specific strategies to address harmful content online.
Addressing participants, Adeline Hulin and John Okande described how UNESCO is partnering with communities, governments, academics, technologists and media and civil society organizations in Kenya and around the world to engage digital platforms in localizing content moderation, while innovating multi-stakeholder solutions for peace online.
“Individuals, organizations and countries can adapt these strategies from the Social Media 4 Peace programme to their local needs and contexts, and innovate their own response mechanisms to address harmful content on digital platforms. It is imperative that we pull our efforts together for this common cause.”
— John Okande, Programme Officer, UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa
Members from the National Coalition on Freedom of Expression and Content Moderation in Kenya were also in attendance, and shared their perspectives on the importance of forging cross-sectoral partnerships through the Coalition to strengthen Kenya’s position in dialogues with big-tech companies.
The workshop was attended by over 30 participants from more than ten countries, and engaged participants in lively discussions about how policies, innovative technologies and coordinated advocacy efforts can hold digital platforms accountable for addressing hate speech and disinformation online.
A key facet of its global strategy under the SM4P project, UNESCO has also supported the establishment of national multi-stakeholder coalitions on Freedom of Expression and Content Moderation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Indonesia. This coalition model bridges the gap between technology giants and local communities by facilitating structured engagement between digital platforms and relevant local voices.
“Participating in the Build Peace conference has been very valuable for UNESCO and the members of the National Coalition on Freedom of Expression and Content Moderation to share the results and lessons learnt of Social Media 4 Peace project with the digital peace-building community globally, who are key players and valued partners in our project.”
On Wednesday, 29 November 2023, The National Coalition on Freedom of Expression and Content Moderation in Kenya (FECoMo) endorsed a joint resolution for a multisectoral approach and action to address gendered disinformation and hate speech on digital platforms. Recognizing the gaps in existing approaches towards addressing the issue, the Coalition resolved to leverage on its expertise and networks to address this phenomenon, which primarily affects women and girls in Kenya.
The ten-point resolution was the outcome of a three-day workshop facilitated by UNESCO and the Association for Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) at Sarova Whitesands Hotel, Mombasa, where coalition members had convened a series of expert discussions to conceptualise and formulate innovative strategies for possible solutions to the problem. National regulators, policy makers, media stakeholders, civil society organisations (CSOs), technology, community radio networks, academia, and think tanks were represented at the discussions.
The training was opened by Esther Ingolo, Director of Gender and Disability Mainstreaming in Mombasa County, who stressed the importance of discussion, educational collaboration and the sharing of best practices in countering online gendered disinformation and hate speech.
“Digital platforms often depict women as untrustworthy and undeserving, propagating divisions amongst them. Women in government, politics, human rights advocacy, activism, and public roles are easy targets. This discourages women from pursuing leadership roles or influential positions,” she added, reminding participants that online environments must be safe and empowering spaces for women and girls before SDG 5 can be achieved.
UNESCO Programme Specialist and Global Coordinator for the SM4P project, AdelineHulin, highlighted UNESCO’s extensive global research on Technology-mediated online Gender-Based Violence (GBV). She introduced UNESCO’s tools and resources that local stakeholders can adapt to the Kenyan context, including the recently published Guidelines for Governance of Digital Platforms. Elaborating on UNESCO’s strategy to strengthen national actors, UNESCO Programme Officer John Okande also pointed to a number of capacity-building initiatives planned for the Coalition.
“We are committed to empowering local stakeholders with tools to combat harmful online content including methods like fact-checking, online monitoring, and fostering peace-building efforts.”
— John Okande, Programme Officer, UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa
Given the multi-faceted nature of gendered disinformation and hate speech on digital platforms, workshop sessions were designed to offer diverse insights from experts operating in different sectors from academia and law to technology and media. Speakers highlighted existing challenges and opportunities specific to their fields in addressing gendered disinformation and hate speech online.
Leo Mutisya, Manager of Research Planning and Strategy at the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) and Lyndcey Oriko from the National Cohesion and Information Commission (NCIC) weighed in on the challenges for regulating digital spaces, which are often characterized by tension between safeguarding freedom of expression and addressing harmful content online.
“While legal frameworks play a key role in shaping the regulatory space, there is also a need to strengthen content monitoring and establish clear channels to report harmful content online.”
— Lyndcey Oriko, National Cohesion and Information Commission (NCIC)
Discussions also highlighted the insufficiency of existing policy and legal mechanisms to safeguard human rights and online safety within digital platforms in Kenya. Kagwiria Mbogori, Lawyer and Women’s Rights Advocate highlighted the importance of aligning interventions in the digital realm with those addressing real-world societal challenges, since online harassment is but a reflection of deep-rooted cultural misogyny and prevalent offline behaviors.
Voices from academia, civic technologies and media also prompted participants to consider innovative approaches to address gendered disinformation and hate speech beyond conventional legal and regulatory perspectives. Other speakers included Professor Levy Obonyo from Daystar University, Daniel Odongo from Ushahidi, and Mark Masai from the Social Newsroom.
The workshop followed a related consultative webinar held on 3rd November, 2023, and is part of a series of interventions to strengthen the Coalition’s capacity to innovate multi-sectoral solutions and provide national leadership on addressing harmful content on digital platforms.
These dialogue spaces brought together thought leaders and experienced practitioners to share cutting-edge insights and facilitate meaningful discussions about the topic. Coalition members reflected that the sharing of diverse perspectives broke down conventional siloes, and allowed them to synthesise their experiences to formulate bolder cross-sectoral strategies during break-out sessions.
At the close of the workshop, Coalition members signed the resolution document as a statement of their commitment to reshape Kenya’s digital landscape and cultivate an environment that champions truth, inclusivity, and respect for all.
Online violence against women and girls, though not a new phenomenon, has escalated rapidly with serious implications for women’s safety and well-being given the growing uptake of social media platforms across the globe. In August 2022, the Countering Disinformation report by the office of the United Nations Secretary-General stressed the need for an urgent response to these growing threats against human rights and fundamental freedoms. It also noted that countering the different manifestations of disinformation requires addressing underlying societal tensions, fostering respect for human rights, online and offline, and supporting a plural civic space and media landscape.
The UNESCO “Social Media 4 Peace” project funded by EU seeks to strengthen the resilience of societies to potentially harmful content spread online, in particular hate speech inciting violence while protecting freedom of expression and enhancing the promotion of peace through digital technologies, notably social media. The project is also being implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Indonesia, and Colombia.
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