"Media regulation must now be part of a strategic vision for informational sovereignty in the digital age," said Latifa Akharbach, during the International Media Forum held in Conakry from May 19 to 21, 2025. This high-level meeting brought together representatives from media regulatory bodies in Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, and Morocco, all present through their presidents.
"In the era of the globalized media public space, as a continent rich in history, culture, and exceptional human potential, we cannot remain on the sidelines of the tremendous progress offered by the digital transformation of media in terms of freedom of expression and access to information and knowledge. We cannot resign ourselves to being mere consumers of content created elsewhere and pushed toward us by biased algorithms, solely oriented toward the commercial interests of hegemonic digital actors. It is a matter of our informational sovereignty, the legitimate protection of our continent's cultural identities, and the success of our national development and democratic consolidation projects," said Latifa Akharbach, President of HACA, in her speech.
To achieve these goals, the Moroccan official called for strengthening the skills, resources, and institutional status of regulators on the continent and for the development of disciplines such as the sociology of digital usage and communication anthropology. As she explained, "In order not to be overwhelmed by the rapid changes in media ecosystems, the regulator is not only required to improve technical skills. He must constantly adopt an analytical stance to understand, for example, the new logics of mass communication and the dynamics of influence in the digital space."
After reaffirming HACA's commitment to promoting sovereign, coordinated, and continent-appropriate African regulation, Mrs. Akharbach concluded by recalling Morocco's position in favor of informational sovereignty in Africa. "This position is expressed, among other ways, through the effective promotion of proactive South-South cooperation in the digital development of the continent," she stated.
This conference, which was opened by the Prime Minister and the President of the National Assembly of Guinea, gathered key actors from the Guinean audiovisual, digital, and print media sectors.
To facilitate the exchange of experiences between African countries, the presidents of media regulatory bodies from Morocco, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Mali were invited to this major event, which aims to assess the developments and major challenges faced by Guinean and African media and to formulate recommendations for a professional and responsible practice of journalism, especially at crucial moments in public life, such as elections.
Also participating in the panel on media monitoring during electoral periods, Latifa Akharbach presented Morocco’s approach to monitoring pluralism in audiovisual media and gave an overview of the monitoring carried out by HACA during the last electoral campaigns organized in the Kingdom.
The President of the High Authority was accompanied in Conakry by Talal Salahdine, Manager of African and International Affairs at HACA.
