Bangkok - November 7, 2024 - (MAP) - President of Morocco’s High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HACA), Latifa Akharbach, called, during an international conference in Bangkok, for a digital space regulation that preserves both market freedom and users’ rights.

“For more efficiency and equity, the international community must promote a regulatory approach that places as much importance on protecting the freedom of the global digital market as it does on preserving the online rights of all the world's citizens,” said Akharbach at a panel organized as part of the International Regulators' Forum, held on November 4 and 5 in the Thai capital.

She emphasized that the major digital platforms must benefit from a legal certainty that protects their actions and business interests, while stressing the need to defend societies 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 HACA President cited several examples within the Moroccan and African digital space.

Morocco, as other African countries, is making sustained efforts to build a regulatory capacity capable of framing the various dimensions of Big Tech's action, she said, adding that African companies remain highly exposed to digital risks.

This vulnerability, she explained, “is due both to infrastructure, digital skills and the policies of the major platforms towards the continent.”

Akharbach, who is also the current president of the African Communication Regulation Authorities Network, reaffirmed HACA's commitment to international cooperation to monitor the actions of platforms and promote a regulatory model that guarantees market freedom, freedom of expression and the rights of digital users to reliable content.