TechCabal Daily – Kenya’s new law for content creators

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KENYA ENACTS NEW CLASSIFICATION LAWS FOR CREATORS

Kenya’s Film and Classification Board (KFCB, no relation to KFC, unfortunately) has announced new rules that decentralise the board’s responsibilities. 

Last week, the KFCB announced that broadcasting firms, online streaming platforms and content creators would now be involved in reviewing and classifying their content with pre-approved ratings. 

And no, it’s not the kind of rating that distinguishes M. Night Shyamalan’s Avatar from James Cameron’s. It’s the kind of rating that tags movies for violent content, nudity, sex, or other ratings that notify readers of the contents/themes of a feature, and which ages they are appropriate for. 

KFCB has 4 classifications including General Exhibition (GE) which “signifies suitable for all ages”, PG for features that require parental guidance for young audiences, and 16 and 18 tags that signify age appropriateness. 

So what’s happening now?

The KFCB can’t keep up with the amount of content flowing into Kenya. With Netflix, Apple+, Disney Plus and a host of other local productions, there’s an influx of features in Kenya and the board can’t review everything within a reasonable time. 

Now, the board is splitting the task between itself and the creators. “Classification of one-day content can take 1 week and we are not able to keep up. So the involvement of the industry is to ensure compliance while coping up with digital expansion,” said Acting CEO Christopher Wambua.

Each broadcaster or streaming platform will review 70% of its own content while KFCB will review 30%. The board also highlighted that defaulting broadcasters will be made to submit all their content for KFCB’s rating—a disruptive process—and fined KSh100,000 ($860) for each violation.

FARM BUZZ IS PROMPTING SMART FARMING IN ZIMBABWE

Right after graduating from the university, Anesu Mapisa and Emmanuel Marume decided to innovate in the Zimbabwean agriculture sector—the highest paying industry in the country—rather than seeking employment.

After a lot of deliberation, they settled on offering farm management, season budgeting, and consultancy services. They registered their company, Farm Buzz, and took to social media [Instagram and Facebook] to educate farmers on efficiency in the hope that they’d convert to customers.

But taking farming education online is not innovative enough so the duo recognised the opportunity to employ drones to increase efficiency on the farms they were being employed to consult on, particularly when it came to weed control.

Mapusa, whose parents are smallholders farmers, said they want to promote smart farming in Zimbabwe through best agronomy practices and agrotechnology. 

Today, their drones help both commercial and smallholder farmers automate the spraying of pesticides and herbicides on their farmlands. They also use drones for farm mapping and scouting, helping farmers know the exact size of their fields for proper planning and resource use.

While there has been an increasing interest in the drone option, farmers did not immediately accept the technology, however. Traditional methods and experience stood in their way. 

Read more in How a bootstrapped drone company is helping commercial and smallholder farmers.

TIKTOK WANTS TO MAKE ITS PLATFORM SAFER

TikTok is exploring new ways to “foster safety and kindness” on its app.

How much unkindness is on TikTok?

Over the last couple of months, regulators and users have turned from Meta (Instagram and Facebook) to TikTok. Meta might have been under the microscope for a long time but it might be TikTok’s time. 

The app does have over 1 billion active users per month. In note of its growth, Meta even launched a smear campaign to get people to notice just how harmful TikTok can be.

Don’t be fooled though. While Meta’s actions might be the classic case of “the charcoal calling the pot black”, scrutiny for TikTok does have its own merit. With its algorithm and endless scroll user interface, misinformation flows on TikTok in tiny bite-sized pieces.

Much like the case against Instagram, young adults are also subject to the same negative impact on TikTok including bullying, self-esteem issues, and in some cases physical injury like the #SkullbreakerChallenge that hospitalised several users. 

So what’s TikTok doing?

First, it’s testing out dislike buttons for its comment section.

According to its blog post, it’ll help the community have more control over comments and “individuals identify comments they believe to be irrelevant or inappropriate.”

While the dislike option has been available for videos on the platform, it is the first time it’ll be extended to comments. Similar to YouTube, however, users will not be able to see the dislike counts each comment has. 

The platform is also testing safety options that will help creators on the platform filter out harmful comments using keywords, and bulk-delete them. 

It’s also updated its Q4 2021 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report where it highlights improvements made on content flagging, detection, and removal.

EVENT: FINTECH WEEK LONDON

The second edition of Fintech Week London is set to hold from July 11 to 15 2022. 

Fintech Week London is a week-long series of events that highlights and celebrates London’s innovative fintech scene, bringing together senior decision-makers from leading fintechs, banks, investment firms, regulatory bodies, media companies, and service providers. 

This year’s edition will feature 150 speakers including Ghela Boskovitch, founder of FemTechGlobal; Leda Glyptis, Chief Client Officer at 10x Future Technologies; and Huy Nguyen Trieu, Co-founder of the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE).

The panels will also cross across several topics including the development of fintech, open banking, crypto and digital sovereignty. 

Virtual and in-person ticket options are available from £45 ($58). Register here.

OPPORTUNITIES

• The JAMII Femmes Programme is now open to applications from female entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire who are focused on building sustainable solutions in the agriculture sector. One woman from each country will be awarded $10,000 prizes, and participate in a 2-week accelerator programme. Check it out.

• The Mo Ibrahim Foundation Academy Fellowship is now offering candidates at the early-to-mid stage of their careers [centred in international affairs] the opportunity to spend 10 months at Chatham House, London, working on an individual research project of their choosing. Apply here.

• Applications are open for the 2022 edition of the African Business Heroes Competition for African Entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries who are contributing to the development of sustainable economies are invited to apply. Ten winning entrepreneurs will share $1.5 million, get access to mentorship opportunities, and gain global recognition. Shoot your shot.

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