KAMPALA — The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German political foundation will host a two-day Social Media Conference on August 25 and 26, 2021, at Sheraton Hotel in Ugandan Capital, Kampala.
The virtual event, now in its sixth edition will according to organizers, bring together key sector stakeholders including government, civil society, academia, and the media for an exchange on the state and impact of social media on society.
The two day event, in which Dr William Tayeebwa, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Communication at Makerere University will give a keynote address on digital politics will be relayed live on major TV channels and several online platforms.
This year’s Social Media Conference will run under the theme “Digital democracy in a Post Pandemic Era”, highlighting how Social Media has facilitated citizen journalism, Elections in Africa, its impact on mental health among many other topics.
Mr. Nicholas Opolot, KAS Uganda Programme Officer at a virtual press briefing on Thursday told journalists that the conference will create platform for engaging on how the growing relevance of social media shapes daily social and political interactions.
He said it will also allow experts and participants to discuss how digital technology can be used to foster democracy in a post pandemic world, to galvanize online participation and enable free speech.
Key among the topics to be covered at the conference will be how to tackle the emerging digital threats including extremism, trafficking, and Radicalization, the Gig economy which is currently a major source of income for unemployed youths in urban centres, and the crisis of state surveillance, digital privacy, and data protection.
Other topics include Internet shutdowns by African governments benchmarking on recent Uganda’s general elections and internet restrictions in Tanzania, also during their general elections.
