Most African schools still treat ICT as a technical skillset: how to open a spreadsheet, how to type a document, how to search on Google. But we’re now living in a world where platforms shape public opinion, suppress dissent, exploit creativity, and control visibility. And we’re raising youth who are deeply fluent in content creation, but dangerously unaware of content exploitation.
We’re teaching students how to click, but not how to critically think about what they’re clicking on, who controls it, or who profits from it.
That’s the problem. And it’s bigger than we think.
Why This Is a Serious Risk for African Youth
Across the continent, young people are going online with no preparation, and the stakes are higher than ever.
They’re being watched, and don’t know it. Platforms collect everything: location, interests, habits, faces, fingerprints. Most young people don’t realise they’ve already traded their privacy for access.
Their ideas are being shaped, invisibly. Social media algorithms control what trends, what disappears, and what gets silenced. This curates not just content, but values, beliefs, and identities.
Their creativity is exploited for free. A student uploads a dance, a drawing, or a poem. It goes viral. The platform gets richer. The creator gets… exposure?
Their voices are flagged, not heard. Content posted in African languages, with activist or cultural messaging, is more likely to be shadowbanned or restricted. Platform bias is real, and often invisible.
And girls face the worst of it. From harassment and body shaming to being erased from tech spaces altogether, young African girls are the most vulnerable to online abuse and exclusion, and the least likely to be protected or taught how to resist it.
Why Schools, Parents, and Leaders Must Step Up Now
This isn’t just a technology issue. It’s an educational, cultural, and economic one. If we want a generation that can lead, create, and build for the future, we need to teach them how the systems they live inside actually work. And that starts with real digital literacy.
Five Things Every Young Person in Africa Should Be Learning About the Internet
1. Platform Power 101
Who owns the platforms you’re using? What rights do you give up when you click ‘Accept’? Young people must learn to read Terms and Conditions, understand the business models of social media apps, and recognise how creators are monetised or not. We need to teach what happens when platforms prioritise ads over users.
2. How Algorithms Shape Reality
Your feed isn’t neutral. It’s engineered. Youth must be taught how content is filtered, ranked, and recommended, and how that impacts their worldview. They should understand how misinformation and bias spread online, and why certain creators are amplified while others are suppressed.
3. Digital Rights and Content Ownership
What you post might not belong to you anymore. Young creators need to understand content licensing, intellectual property, watermarking, and how to protect their work. They must be taught their value, and how to guard it.
4. Surveillance, Data Harvesting, and Online Safety
Even passive activity is being tracked. Students should learn how their data is extracted, stored, and sold. They should explore privacy settings, digital consent, and ethical tech use. They must understand the myth of the “free” platform and begin practising digital hygiene.
5. Creative Sovereignty and Afrocentric Innovation
It’s not just about using tech, it’s about reshaping it. We must encourage youth to question systems, highlight African-led platforms and creators, and promote tools and media rooted in local values, stories, and languages. We don’t just need digital users. We need digital leaders and builders.
The Solution Isn’t Just in the Classroom. It’s in the Culture.
We can’t wait for curriculum reform. We must start where we are: in homes, youth centres, churches, after-school programmes, and digital spaces.
Host community-based workshops on digital rights and safety. Start parent-child learning circles around tech, culture, and values. Use zines, infographics, and visual guides to teach complex topics simply. Partner with creators and educators to run youth storytelling labs. Build networks of digital mentors and intergenerational guides.
We also need governments and tech platforms to act. Digital literacy must be integrated into national curriculums. More funding must go to youth-led and women-led tech initiatives across the continent. Platforms must be held accountable for bias, extraction, and harm. And ethical, inclusive, Afrocentric alternatives must be funded and supported.
The Future Belongs to the Digitally Literate, Not Just the Digitally Present
This isn’t about fear. It’s about freedom. It’s about teaching African youth how to protect their voice, own their ideas, challenge the algorithm, and build systems that reflect their realities.
Africa doesn’t just need more content creators. We need code writers. Culture-shapers. Platform architects.
And we start by teaching them the truth.
What You Can Do Now
Download our “What Schools Should Teach About the Internet” cheat sheet.
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We question.
We reclaim.
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