The sun rose over Nairobi with the kind of warmth that seems to welcome the world, and inside the conference halls, that sense of welcome was matched by a gathering of minds from every corner of Africa and beyond. Journalists who had filed stories from conflict zones sat beside technologists who could code their way out of a digital maze; fact-checkers who spent their days chasing rumors shared tables with researchers and policymakers who shaped the laws that governed information. They had come from thirty countries, drawn together by a common unease and a common purpose. The occasion was the…

Elections are not just about ballot papers and counting machines; they are ultimately about what people believe before they vote. A lie that spreads online can be as damaging as a burnt ballot box, and South Africa’s Electoral Commission (IEC) knows this better than most. That is why, in the run-up to the local government elections on 4 November, the IEC has joined forces with some of the biggest digital companies in the world—Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok—and the non-profit organisation Moxii Africa, in a shared commitment to protect the integrity of information. The idea is simple but profound: voters deserve…