Tuesday, November 5, 2024 at 12:12
Bangkok – The president of the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HACA), Latifa Akharbach, pleaded, during an international conference in Bangkok, for regulation of the digital space which preserves both market freedom and user rights.
“For greater efficiency and fairness, the international community must promote a regulatory approach that attaches as much importance to protecting the freedom of the global digital market as to preserving the online rights of all citizens of the world,” Ms Akharbach said during a panel at the International Conference of Regulators, held November 4-5 in the Thai capital.
She stressed that large digital platforms must benefit from legal security that protects their actions and commercial interests, while emphasizing the need to defend companies against the circulation of content harmful to the general interest, the integrity of information, human dignity, the values of living together and national cohesion.
In this context, the president of the HACA cited several examples relating to the Moroccan and African digital space.
Morocco, like other African countries, is making sustained efforts to build a regulatory capacity capable of supervising the different dimensions of Big Tech action, she continued, noting that African companies remain highly exposed to digital risks.
This vulnerability, she explained, “is due to both infrastructure, digital skills and the policies of large platforms towards the continent”.
Ms. Akharbach, also current president of the Network of African Communication Regulatory Bodies, reaffirmed HACA’s commitment to international cooperation to supervise the action of platforms and promote a regulatory model guaranteeing both the market freedom, freedom of expression and the rights of users of the digital space to reliable content.
Organized by the International Institute of Communications (IIC) and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand, the International Conference of Regulators brought together more than 200 representatives of media and telecommunications regulators, as well as government officials , researchers, experts and stakeholders from the media and telecommunications industries from around the world.
The IIC, of which HACA is a member, is a non-profit, non-governmental organization founded in 1969 in London. As a think tank, its vocation is to bring together media and telecommunications operators, regulators, academics, researchers and government representatives for cross-reflection on the evolution of these sectors.
Ms. Akharbach was accompanied during this conference by Khalid Ouaryi, head of the president’s office.
