The Vice President and Chief Programme Officer at Luminate, Juana Kweitel, has warned that the coming decade will determine whether technology strengthens or undermines democratic life across Africa.
Delivering the keynote address on Monday at the ongoing Media and Development Conference (MDC 3.0) in Abuja, the human rights and democracy advocate said a handful of technology companies now serve as de facto gatekeepers of democracy—shaping public debate, defining truth, and influencing civic behaviour at scale.
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Ms Kweitel noted that while digital tools have expanded civic participation and opened new spaces for engagement, they are increasingly fuelling division and widening inequality.
“Digital tools have widened civic participation and created new opportunities, but the same tools are now driving divisions and deepening inequality,” she said.
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She argued that social media platforms—now central to political and social life—remain under the control of a few private companies whose engagement-driven algorithms prioritise virality over accuracy.
This concentration of power, she warned, poses profound risks to human rights, privacy and non-discrimination.
Rising digital violence pushing
Ms Kweitel drew attention to escalating digital violence, particularly against women. She referenced findings indicating that nearly 90 per cent of women who experience online abuse either withdraw from digital platforms or suffer self-harm.
Citing a 2025 UN report, she noted that 28 per cent of women surveyed reported receiving rape, beating or abduction threats online.
“This digital world is still unsafe for the marginalised,” she said, adding that even societies with stable democratic institutions continue to host hostile and exclusionary online spaces.
Turning to artificial intelligence, Ms Kweitel warned that prevailing systems reflect the dominance of wealthy, English-speaking developers. Such systems, she said, erase local context, overlook indigenous knowledge and reinforce historical inequalities.
“The digital world is shaped largely by wealthy, English-speaking people. It reproduces and depends on biased data,” she told participants.
Africa at an inflection point
Speaking to the conference theme, “Reimagining Democracy, Development and Data for the Next Decade,” Ms Kweitel said Africa sits at a defining moment, confronting deep structural inequalities, fragile institutions and limited capacity to regulate powerful tech companies.
She highlighted Luminate’s investments in initiatives that place social justice at the centre of technology governance and elevate marginalised voices. She also pointed to the rise of youth activism and public-interest litigation demanding accountability from both governments and technology giants.
Ms Kweitel urged journalists across the continent to remain steadfast in public-interest reporting and to understand technology not merely as a beat but as a force reshaping every aspect of society.
“Journalists must hold the line. Invest in media, not just stories,” she said.
Building a fairer digital future, she added, will require collaboration among newsrooms, civil society, policymakers and regulators.
READ ALSO: MDC 2025: CJID’s Media and Development Conference Opens in Abuja (PHOTOS)
The CJID’s Media and Development Conference (MDC 3.0) opened Monday in Abuja, drawing journalists, policymakers, researchers, diplomats, civil society leaders and technology experts for four days of rigorous dialogue on governance, development and Africa’s evolving information ecosystem.
The conference, scheduled to run from 24 to 27 November 2025 at the Abuja Continental Hotel, is themed “Reimagining Democracy, Development and Data for the Next Decade.”
Sessions will interrogate democratic resilience, media sustainability, climate and extractive-sector governance, digital rights, food security, fact-checking and the growing influence of artificial intelligence on public life.
Delegates from more than a dozen African countries are expected to grapple with a moment defined by political turbulence, shrinking civic space and rapid technological disruption.
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