Both Twitter and Facebook made big announcements on Wednesday, as the social media companies seek to curb fake accounts, abuse in political ads, and the potential to spread fake news or incite violence through hate speech. Facebook announced it removed three Russia-linked networks of accounts, pages and groups that targeted…
The Wellcome Sanger Institute has responded to a British media report that it misused African DNA it acquired from the Stellenbosch University in South Africa, with the intent to sell it in a commercial application rather than use the DNA for research into African genetics and evolution. The allegations were…
Facebook’s latest move in seeking to address misinformation and political “fake news” on the African continent is to expand its efforts into 10 sub-Saharan countries, working in local languages – as well as with news outlets – to better monitor Facebook post content. The social media giant announced this week…
Five students from Kenya have been named as short-list finalists for the European Union’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded for exceptional achievements in human rights. The five – Stacy Owino, Cynthia Otieno, Purity Achieng, Mascrine Atieno and Ivy Akinyi – developed an app to help young women…
Egyptians were experiencing some Internet disruptions on Sunday as protests against President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi continued into the weekend, with service interruptions that appeared to target news sites and social media messaging. NetBlocks.org, an organization that tracks shutdowns and disruptions across the globe, reported that BBC News and other news…
The Mail & Guardian is one of South Africa’s most widely respected news organizations, but now it’s reporting that it’s been censored following a June 2019 investigation into an oil deal involving South Sudan and the man who arranged it. The publication was taken offline on Friday by Internet service…
Kenya has joined the nations of Ghana and Malawi in administering a new malaria vaccine, with parts of the country participating in a pilot program offered in partnership with the World Health Organization. The vaccine known as RTS,S has taken 30 years to develop and so far is the only…
Scientists racing to save the northern white rhino say they’ve successfully created two embryos in the lab by using eggs from the last two remaining females and frozen sperm from deceased males. “The embryos are now stored in liquid nitrogen to be transferred into a surrogate mother in the near…
Seven nations on the African continent have something in common that the others don’t. They’re all signatories calling for a ban on “killer robots” and related fully autonomous weapons currently being developed in advanced nations. That’s according to the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, which lists Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Ghana,…
African leaders have completed a two-day conference in India, designed to boost economic opportunity and international partnership through education. The event in New Delhi, coordinated by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), saw education ministry staff from Ghana and South Africa join their Indian counterparts to discuss opportunities for training…
The West African nation of Ghana hosted 40 young leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa this weekend, as they attended a two-day event sponsored by Facebook to focus on the continent’s digital future. The participants from 15 different countries were holding coding workshops for students in Accra and mentoring sessions for…
Can soap operas change how people view climate change and motivate them to act? It’s possible, according to expert Robert Walker, who makes the case in a new blog post for the Wilson Institute’s Environmental Change and Security Program in the United States. Walker is president of the Population Institute…
The Chinese government is denying the report that a hacker group investigated by cybersecurity research firm FireEye is working for Beijing, adding without specifying that “the world knows clearly who has been most engaged in cyberattack and cybertheft around the globe.” The research firm, based in the United States, said…
A Colombian company is partnering with the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, to convert recycled plastics from Côte d’Ivoire into modular bricks that will be used to build school classrooms in the West African nation. “This factory will be at the cutting edge of smart, scalable solutions for some of…
A Nigerian-led startup that wants to boost the access to African DNA for research purposes has received US$4.5 million in funding. The 54gene enterprise – launched earlier this year with bases in Nigeria and the United States – seeks to end the lack of diversity in DNA that’s used in…