African Digital Rights Network

Since the beginning of the century Africa has experienced a rapid expansion in the use of mobile and internet technologies, which have produced digital dividends for some in the form of improved social and economic development (Buskens and Webb 2014; World Bank 2016; WSIS 2018). However, research also clearly shows that the use of digital technologies is creating new exclusions and digital divides both between and within countries that reflect and reinforce racism, and amplify and automate existing inequalities (Eubanks 2017, Noble 2018; Hernandez and Roberts 2018).

Over the same timeframe, many African countries have experienced a 'closing of civic space' for open and inclusive governance (CIVICUS 2019). Mechanisms used to close civic space have included deregistering NGOs, regulations to cut off funding, violence and harassment, arbitrary arrest and disappearance of civil society actors (Dupuy et al 2016; Hossain et al 2018). During periods of closing civic space, activists forced underground or into exile have often fought back in part by opening online civic space from where their right to freedom of speech and assembly can be exercised and defended (Buyse 2018; Roberts 2019). By creating these new virtual civic spaces, tech-savvy youth movements have been able to mitigate the efforts of repressive governments to completely close civic space.

The opening of civic space online has been characterised by hashtag campaigns, viral memes, and civic technologies as mechanisms for digital rights advocacy (Nyabola 2018; Solomon 2018). Online civic space has been particularly valuable for marginalised groups to voice opinion, form new counter-narratives, and offer policy alternatives (Tufekci 2017; Gurumurthy et al 2017). However, in recent years repressive governments have begun deploying their own digital methods to close online civic space. Mechanisms to close online civic space have included internet shutdowns, online surveillance and digital disinformation. Governments have hired private companies like Cambridge Analytica to deploy psychological profiling and micro-targeting of voters with 'fake news', DDOS denial of service attacks, and computational propaganda via troll farms, cyborg networks, bot armies, and other 'coordinated inauthentic behaviour' (Bradshaw and Howard 2017; Woolley and Howard 2017; Bradshaw and Howard 2017; 2019).

Members of the proposed African Digital Rights Network have made important contributions to a modest but growing literature on the use of digital technologies by African civil society in the context of closing civic space (Gagliardone 2014; Ojebode 2018; Nyabola 2018; Bosch 2019; Karekwaivanane 2019; Oosterom 2019; Roberts 2019). To date however, there is minimal research literature on the growing use of digital technologies by African governments and private companies to close civic space. The research that does exist is primarily single country studies. Most studies assess a single technology used by a single actor. There is not yet any comparative African literature to identify trends, build theory, and guide policy and practice. There has not yet been any analysis of the particular technical affordances (Gibson 1977; Norman 1988) that make specific technologies more or less appropriate at different moments of opening and closing of civic space.

Addressing these research gaps is an inescapably interdisciplinary endeavour. The African Digital Rights Network will bring together a unique team of data scientists, political economists, digital ethnographers, political communications and development studies scholars. Network members will share experience, identify gaps and priorities, and define a long-term comparative research programme to push the boundaries of knowledge and understanding. The overarching research question is 'in contexts of closing civic space, how can digital technologies be used to open civic space and enable citizens to exercise their (digital) rights?'

This project will increase knowledge and capacity in Africa on the use of digital technologies to open and close civic space. Little comparative analysis exists about the opening of online civic space in Africa and less analysis exists about the use of digital technologies to close civic space, fuel ethnic violence, repress marginalised groups, and distort electoral outcomes. The creation of the network will increase the ability of (digital) rights workers to safely express opinion online. It will also increase the capacity of civil society organisations to open online civic space and to monitor and analyse digital (dis)information campaigns. The network will improve the understanding of governments and donors about emerging trends in digital rights including digital surveillance and disinformation, the use of 'troll farms', 'bot armies', and other 'inauthentic online behaviour' that distorts discourse, democracy, and policy conversations across seven African countries. Practical recommendations will be delivered about how to open civic space so that citizens can safely exercise their right to take part in decision-making affecting their lives.

Impact objectives: Project impacts will be achieved through engagement with a range of stakeholders including human rights defenders and advocates, civil society organisations, and governments and donors.

1. Human Rights Defenders and researchers on voice, accountability and governance in authoritarian settings will learn how to more safely store and share sensitive data without endangering themselves or those with whom they work. Contact details and interview notes on phones and laptops, stored in the cloud or sent in emails can be intercepted and imperil civic activists. Network member Natasha Msonza is a digital security trainer at Digital Society of Zimbabwe and will help the project design and deliver training and signpost the latest resources to raise awareness and capacity in encryption and digital security practices. This work will be grounded in the practitioner experience and expertise of network members who are frontline human rights activists and campaigners (Ethiopian Zone9 blogger Atnaf Brhane and Berhane Taye from Access Now). These impacts will help actors more safely exercise, defend, and expand their (digital) rights, freedoms and agency.

2. Civil Society Organisations will benefit from a new multi-actor network that brings the perspectives of practitioners, researchers and policymakers to bear on this urgent problem. They will build capacity to use social media analysis to better understand online (dis)information campaigns, digital surveillance, and 'coordinated inauthentic behaviour', including the use of 'troll farms', 'cyborgs' and 'bot armies'. Network members will produce the first comparative analysis of this range of technologies to close civic space across Africa. The impact will be extended beyond the seven countries by sharing learning through the regional and global policy networks (CIPESA and APC) and practice networks (CIVICUS and APC) in which members of this network are already active. Network members will produce a wider stakeholder map of engagement opportunities and priorities for DIDA phase two research.

3. Governments and Donors will gain insights into these emerging issues in African digital rights. The project will provide a rich picture of the changing digital landscape, stakeholders and themes, which will inform perspectives about the relationship between new uses of digital technologies, civic space and inclusive development. The synthesis of Digital Landscape Reports will produce the first ever comparative review of emerging trends, priorities and policy proposals. Network members will engage with governments and donors through annual policy fora including the African Internet Governance Forum and World Summit on the Information Society processes which network members helped found and actively participate in.