Ground Signal: Local Voices on Digital Harms and the Fight for Collective Action

Digital harms — disinformation, hate speech, online gender-based violence, and the manipulation of information ecosystems — are now inseparable from how conflict unfolds, communities are polarised, and democratic processes are disrupted. Yet the people who understand these harms best, and who are working hardest to address them, are rarely heard in the global conversations that shape how technology is governed. 

Ground Signal is a 30-minute documentary produced as part of an initiative to convene locally-led alliances of civil society organisations addressing digital harms in conflict-affected contexts across Africa. Drawing on interviews with practitioners, researchers, and digital rights defenders working in Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, and Somalia, the film explores what digital harms look like on the ground, what local actors are doing to address them, and why coordination — across organisations, sectors, and countries — is essential to driving systemic change. 

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A featuring the filmmaker and practitioners from Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan — bringing together perspectives on multistakeholder coalition-building, social media analysis in conflict contexts, and youth-led responses to digital harms. The discussion draws on findings from a complementary research study on multistakeholder engagement in digital harms regulation and policy across Africa. 

The session is presented by the Kofi Annan Foundation, which works to advance democracy, peace, and sustainable development globally, in partnership with Build Up, a digital peacebuilding organisation working at the intersection of technology, conflict, and civic participation. Join us to explore what it will take to build a safer, more accountable digital ecosystem across Africa — and what the global peacebuilding community can do to support it.