By the APAC-ABCA Consortium Team

Hello everyone and welcome aboard the E-campaign of the Association des Professionnelles Africaines de la Communication (APAC) (Association of African Professional Communicators (APAC) in collaboration with the Association des Blogueurs pour une Citoyenneté Active ( ABCA) – Association of Bloggers for Active Citizenship (ABCA) 2021! Fasten your seatbelts for a tour of the regions of Niger, and discover the social media Charter through the journey we have undertaken in order to popularise it. The first stage was Niamey. Niamey the coquette!

Our beautiful capital is home to a good number of social network users and bloggers who share various information with their audiences. Some of this information can tarnish the image of the bloggers, or even make them face the Nigerian Cybercrime Law. It was, therefore, crucial to empower users of social networks by providing them with “guidelines”. Niamey was the first step in order to popularise it.

Next step? Tillabéri! Every kilometre counts, and every learning experience creates awareness of how to use social networks in a responsible way. What does this Charter teach us? That every blogger has duties and rights towards his/her audience.

Fake news! Hoax! False titles! Emergencies! Disinformation! Zinder was the stopover to learn about and differentiate these terms.

Heading for Dosso! Let’s sing together some duties of the Internet user. Let us take into account the respect for human rights. Do not undermine human dignity. Let us avoid incitement to violence. No stigmatisation.

A look at Maradi? Let’s go! Obscene content, exacerbating trauma, using outrageous language or carrying clichés is unthinkable. Let’s stretch our feet while keeping in mind these duties of the Internet user.

Let’s enjoy the landscape of Agadez while sipping a glass of camel milk, and continuing our journey by sharing the Charter. Let us drink, one swallow at a time, these duties of the blogger. He has the duty to protect children and vulnerable people, make insults to him praise, avoid the dissemination of false information or its manipulation, and especially disclose professional secrets.

Tick, tock, the trip is coming to an end. Diffa was the last stop. Where there are duties, there are also rights. Influencers, whistle-blowers, bloggers, and internet users, do you know your rights according to the social media Charter? Take your logbook and write it down! You are free to protect yourself and your sources of information. Influence and convey values, exercise this right without limit dear friends. And remember, you have the right to respect.

After this long journey full of discoveries, what better way than to go home. Home sweet home, we are back in Niamey! Luggage heavy with new learning, let’s give our friends in Niamey, , as a present,  a detailed account of our experiences.