State of Internet Freedom in West Africa: Navigating the Implications of AI on Digital Democracy in Africa

The report, compiled by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), analyzes the impact of AI on digital rights across 14 countries: Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The study finds that unregulated AI-powered surveillance, along with “opaque content moderation practices,” chills speech and activism and restricts media freedom. CIPESA argues that without a rights-centered approach to AI, the technology “risks becoming a powerful tool that deepens existing inequalities, facilitates authoritarian control, and fundamentally undermines democratic values and human rights across the continent.”