French-speaking media regulators called on their states to commit to regulating online content on major digital platforms on Friday following a two-day meeting in Paris.
In a joint declaration, these regulators, including Arcom for France, called on their Member States to “affirm, at the next Francophonie Summit, their common desire to adapt audiovisual and digital regulation in the French-speaking world to issues and challenges raised by online platforms”.
This declaration was adopted by the Francophone Media Regulation Network (Refram), which brings together thirty regulators from French-speaking countries on three continents (Europe, Africa and North America with Canada).
This body held a conference Thursday and Friday in Paris, at Unesco, at the end of which Roch-Olivier Maistre, the boss of Arcom, took over as president for two years.
“All these countries are now beset by the same questions, and in particular that of the regulation of social networks”, indicated Mr. Maistre to AFP.
“The African continent has a very high rate of telephone equipment” with “a very young population”, and “social networks are a rather destabilizing element of these societies”, he added.
According to him, “these countries are just like us confronted with the concern of public opinion in the face of the development of the manipulation of information, online hatred or the proliferation of illicit content”.
In its statement, Refram cites the recent European regulation on digital services (“Digital Services Act”, DSA) as being among “the most advanced standards in the regulation of online platforms”.
This regulation, which aims to force platforms to better fight once morest illegal content (eg child pornography), provides for fines of up to 6% of their annual turnover in the event of an infringement.
“This continental approach is of great interest to our African colleagues”, commented Mr. Maistre.
According to him, the European mechanism can be “a source of inspiration” for the establishment in Africa of a similar framework, with a “regional approach” rather than country-by-country regulation.
