Latifa Akharbach, Chairwoman of the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HACA), addressed the international conference on the common approach of the countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) to the regulation of digital platforms, organized by the Ivorian HACA on Wednesday.
Ms. Akhrbach, who is also the current president of the Network of African Communication Regulation Authorities (RIARC), said that “there can be no complete digital sovereignty without both a trusted cyberspace and a credible local cultural and information offering that is capable of finding its place and its audiences in the new global digital space”.
Ms. Akharbach stressed that building African cultural and information sovereignty was an urgent, multi-sectoral task, particularly given the accelerating pace of change in media ecosystems.
A press release from the HACA indicated that this project encompasses many other issues, such as a genuine capacity to produce diverse content, respect for copyright, protection of the public, and the development of African audiovisual and cinematographic creation based on diversity.
The President of RIARC declared that global platforms should be regulated to ensure their support for local cultural, media, and creative industries.
The conference was attended by the presidents of the twelve member bodies of the platform of audiovisual regulators from WAEMU countries, African media regulators, representatives of global digital platforms such as Meta, Tiktok, and Google, the representative of the WAEMU Commission, as well as the president of ACRAN and a representative of the French-speaking network of regulators (REFRAM).