Kenyan among 8 picked for TikTok's Sub-Saharan Africa safety advisory council

Global video sharing platform TikTok has unveiled an 8-member team, including one Kenyan, to form its inaugural Safety Advisory Council for Sub-Saharan Africa.

The announcement, which coincided with the expansion of its #SaferTogether community education campaign, was made at TikTok's Safety Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday evening.

The council, which included policymakers, members from academia, NGOs, and community leaders, aims to foster a collaborative approach to ensuring a secure and positive environment on the platform.

Lillian Kariuki, the Founder and Executive Director of Watoto Watch Network, is the only Kenyan set to sit on the council.

The other members are; Prof. Guy Berger (Rhodes University, South Africa), Dennis Coffie (Content creator, Ghana), Peter Cunliffe-Jones (University of Westminster Visiting Research Fellow, UK), Aisha Dabo (Co-Founder and coordinator of AfricTivistes, Senegal), Dr. Akinola Olojo (Expert on preventing and countering violent extremism, Nigeria), Prof. Medhane Tadesse (Policy academic on peace and security issues, Ethiopia), and Berhan Taye (Independent Researcher, Ethiopia).

Since 2020, TikTok has established nine regional Safety Advisory Councils alongside the U.S. Content Advisory Council, each composed of experts in areas such as youth safety, free expression, and hate speech.

The councils play a vital role in shaping TikTok’s policies, product features, and safety processes, ensuring the platform remains responsive to evolving challenges.

"With the launch of the Sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council, we are demonstrating our commitment to including expert African voices in our trust and safety work,” said Valiant Richey, Global Head of Outreach and Partnerships, Trust and Safety, TikTok.

“This group of leaders was chosen for their broad range of expertise and experience, and we look forward to working with them over the coming years."

TikTok also stated that its #SaferTogether campaign is designed to engage the community actively in promoting a basic understanding of the platform's community guidelines and safety features.

The initiative will include workshops, social media outreach, and partnerships with key stakeholders to raise awareness about the importance of following TikTok’s community standards.

Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, Director of Government Relations & Public Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa emphasised: “The community empowerment campaign highlights the importance of safety being a shared responsibility.

This part of the campaign will speak directly to the TikTok community, to join us in making TikTok a safer space for all by ensuring they follow the Community Guidelines and use the safety features available to them. With the additional layer that the Safety Advisory Council presents, we believe that safety can be achieved, collectively.”