Yaounde: NCC engages TikTok to better regulate cyberspace.

It was attended by representatives from social media video platform, TikTok, led by the Head of Government Relations and Public Policy TikTok West Africa, Tokunbo Ibrahim. 

The gathering also brought together officials of NCC, stakeholders in the country’s cyberspace, notably TikTokers and online journalists.

It was aimed at to exploring ways to manage quality and quantity of content online.

NCC boss, Joseph Chebongkeng, said the meeting was an outcome of a series of meetings and international conferences the NCC organised with different social media platforms.

He said a representative was sent from TikTok to discuss with the NCC on a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between the structure he heads and the social media platform.

“TikTok has a lot of impact on the world’s population as it is one of the platforms with rapid growth. We are particularly pleased with this meeting because the terms of the agreement we proposed fall directly in line with TikToks aspirations,” Chebongkeng stated.

He added that for managerial reasons, TikTok could not sign the MoU immediately because they have to refer to their legal department for review and validation.

“So, we expect that in a short while we will have at least the first MoU on collaboration between different platforms, on the moderation and regulation of content,” NCC boss reiterated.

On her part, the Head of Government Relations and Public Policy TikTok West Africa, Tokunbo Ibrahim, expressed the desire to work with the NCC.

Tokunbo said the collaboration is to help NCC easily report to TikTok, content from the country that is illegal or offensive, so it can take action

“We are happy and looking forward to work together to sanitize the content on TikTok that exists in Cameroon,” she said.

Engagement precipitated by 2025 presidential elections

According to Chebongkeng, TikTok is not just a social media platform for personal use as it can be used to create a wide range of content. 

He said during elections, online platforms can be sued to spread hate speech and incite, hence the necessity for the MoU.

“We feel that with the different activities in the country especially the elections next year, what we need is for content to be judiciously shared and used. We are pleased that TikTok will be one of our partners in managing this content,” Chebongkeng said.

He added that during different international conferences it was agreed that what is illegal offline has to be illegal online hence, activities not allowed to be carried out offline should not also be allowed on the cyber space.

Chebongkeng said to make the sanitisation process work, a collaborations committee will be established that will, in the shortest possible delay signal to all the different platforms harmful content.

“TikTok just informed us that they have developed a software that can identify and eliminate harmful content at any moment. So illegal content or content that creates problems like promoting hare speech, disorder and violence will be flagged,” NCC boss concluded. 

Enter ‘TikTokers’

Cameroonian ‘TikTokers’ like Dona Beey are elated that the NCC wants to partner with TikTok. Beey said it is a huge deal for them because before, they felt underestimated and unseen by the State despite the tremendous work they are doing to educate and entertain Cameroonians.

“With the exchanges we had, we see that Africa is a priority. TikTok is taking into account that Africa is growing and presents a huge market. We talked about monetisation and the answers given to us are good. We hope that the MoU brings us good tidings and help us grow and expand with our different activities,” Beey said.

She added that there is a need for more content creators who can help rebrand the country, because online content creators can help build a reputation for the state. 

She said they also talked about security for young people and TikTok assured them minors are well protected as their TikTok accounts can be linked to those of their parents.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3152 of Friday June 28, 2024