Imagine a sixteen-year-old girl in Ouagadougou. She is bright, curious, and full of questions about her changing body, about relationships, about love and safety. But when she tries to ask her mother, the words catch in her throat. In her community, topics like sex, pregnancy, and contraception are not discussed openly. At school, the teacher skips over the chapter on reproductive health with an awkward silence. So, like millions of young people across West Africa and beyond, she opens her phone. She scrolls through TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, typing her questions into the search bar in her own language, Mooré or Dioula. What she finds is a chaotic mixture of helpful information, personal stories, half-truths, and outright lies. She does not yet know how to tell the difference. This is the everyday reality we set out to change with Wobsongo, our flagship solution for youth and adolescents. Wobsongo is a digital protection system that monitors content on social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, including content created in local African languages like Mooré and Dioula. It is not a tool designed to spy on young people, but a shield built to guard them in the digital spaces where they already live, learn, and ask questions.
The scale of the problem is staggering. In many communities, sexual and reproductive health and rights remain taboo, making it almost impossible for young people—especially girls and young women—to ask questions openly or find trusted guidance from parents, teachers, or healthcare workers. The adults around them may love them dearly, but they are often too embarrassed, too uncomfortable, or too constrained by cultural norms to talk honestly about these matters. As a result, the vast majority of young people turn to the internet and social media for answers. The internet never blushes. The internet never changes the subject. It offers an endless stream of videos, comments, and friends who seem to have all the answers. But this apparent openness hides a serious danger. False or misleading content related to sexual and reproductive health can expose young people to harmful decisions, deep fear, stigma, unsafe practices, and discrimination. Public health researchers have found that 90 percent of the top-performing videos on birth control are not produced by medical experts, and 53 percent of the creators behind those videos actively reject hormonal birth control. Many of them also express deep distrust of healthcare providers. For a young girl who is already unsure, these voices can feel powerful and convincing. They are not merely offering opinions; they are shaping the choices she makes about her own body, choices that can affect her health, her future, and her life.
Wobsongo was created to be a protective digital shield in this confusing and sometimes dangerous landscape. It is not a filter that removes content or a system that punishes people for speaking. It is something far more useful: a tool that helps young people develop critical thinking and learn to question what they see online. It does this by combining artificial intelligence, local-language analysis, and digital literacy education in a way that respects both the reality of young people’s lives and the cultural contexts they come from. The technology behind Wobsongo is designed to listen. It pays attention to the stories, phrases, and narratives circulating on social media in languages like Mooré and Dioula. It notices when a particular lie is spreading, when a dangerous myth about contraception is gaining popularity, when an influencer is telling girls that modern medicine cannot be trusted. But Wobsongo does not simply collect information for the sake of data. It uses that information to help families and communities build safer digital environments. It works with parents, teachers, youth leaders, and health workers to create spaces where young people can learn, grow, and make informed decisions with confidence and dignity. The goal is not to drag young people away from their phones. The goal is to walk with them into the digital world and help them long enough that they can navigate it on their own.
Digital literacy is at the heart of Wobsongo’s vision. Too often, young people are told to be careful online without being told how. They are warned that not everything on social media is true, but they are not given the practical skills to separate fact from fiction. Wobsongo changes this by teaching critical thinking in a way that feels relevant and culturally appropriate. Instead of abstract lectures, young people are shown real examples from the platforms they use every day. They learn to ask: Who created this video? What are their qualifications? What do they stand to gain? Does this post use fear to persuade me? Is there evidence for this claim? These questions may seem simple, but in a world where confidence and beauty can make a lie look trustworthy, they are powerful. Wobsongo also supports parents and community elders who often feel completely disconnected from what their children are doing online. Many adults assume that smartphones are a waste of time or a source of meaningless entertainment. They do not realize that these devices have become the place where their children are searching for answers to life-changing questions. Wobsongo helps open a dialogue between generations. It gives parents the language and the confidence to address sexuality and reproductive health without shame. It helps them see that young people’s questions are not signs of rebellion, but signs of a natural search for understanding. And it reminds communities that protecting young people means speaking to them, not silencing them.
For decision-makers, institutions, and public health actors, Wobsongo provides something equally vital: an early-warning and monitoring system. Through a real-time dashboard, it is capable of detecting emerging misinformation trends, harmful narratives, and potential threats affecting the sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and women. This is not a theoretical tool. It is practical and immediately useful for ministries of health, NGOs, international agencies, and local organizations working under enormous pressure with limited resources. Imagine a public health official responsible for adolescent health programs. She has noticed that more teenage girls are asking about dangerous home remedies for pregnancy prevention. She is worried but does not yet understand what is driving the problem. With Wobsongo, she can see that a new series of videos is circulating in Dioula, claiming that drinking certain mixtures can prevent pregnancy naturally, with no evidence and great risk. The dashboard flags this trend early, before it spreads too far. Because she sees it in time, she can respond with targeted awareness campaigns, fact-checked information, partnerships with trusted local voices, and support for health workers in the affected communities. This is the difference between responding to a crisis after it has already hurt people and preventing that crisis from happening in the first place. Wobsongo allows stakeholders to anticipate risks, better understand evolving online dynamics, and act at the right moment with targeted awareness, prevention, and protection actions. In a region where misinformation can move faster than public health services, this kind of early warning is not just useful—it is essential.
Ultimately, Wobsongo is about more than technology, data, or algorithms. It is about dignity. It is about the right of every young person to understand their own body and to make decisions based on truth rather than fear. It is about breaking the silence that has surrounded sexual and reproductive health for far too long. In a future where social media will only become more present in young people’s lives, we cannot afford to leave them alone with the loudest voices and the most sensational videos. We cannot pretend that a board in a classroom is enough to answer questions that are rarely spoken aloud. Wobsongo offers a path forward. It works in local languages, respects local values, and uses the tools of the digital age to protect the very people who are most vulnerable to its harms. It helps a girl in Ouagadougou look at a viral video and ask, “Is this really true?” It helps a mother find the courage to say, “I don’t know, but let’s find out together.” It helps a public health official see a harmful narrative before it destroys a young life. This is what we mean by being a protective digital shield. It is not about building walls. It is about giving young people the strength to open doors wisely. Wobsongo is proof that we can use technology not to harm or alienate, but to heal, to educate, and to empower. It is time for decision-makers, communities, and families to come together behind this vision and create a safer, more honest digital world for every girl and boy who deserves to learn the truth.