Youth digital activism in the Sahel is not uniformly pro-democracy.
Social media platforms provide citizens with alternative channels through which to express grievances, mobilise protest, and hold authorities accountable; but also facilitate the spread of populist rhetoric, nationalist narratives, and coordinated disinformation.
What does this dual reality look like across the seven countries studied?
- In Mali, platforms serve as spaces for mobilisation, debate, and information contestation.
- In Guinea, limited internet access constrains broader civic engagement online.
- In Burkina Faso, participation is mostly diffuse, with youth amplifying dominant narratives rather than leading organised action.
- In Togo, social media is a key arena for political expression and mobilisation, with spikes around corruption, hardship, and repression.
- In Chad, online youth engagement remains limited.
- In Cameroon, mobilisation is largely reactive, emerging mainly during crises.
- In Niger, platforms combine political expression with high levels of disinformation and polarised narratives.
Across the region, online engagement is often reactive and crisis-driven during moments of crisis, coups, elections, or political tension, rather than forming sustained movements. And while young people are highly present in these spaces, their voices are often mediated through content produced by journalists, media outlets, or diaspora networks rather than driving the conversation directly.
At the same time, although most states have put digital governance frameworks in place, enforcement and coordination remain weak. Closing this gap will require not just stronger laws, but also stronger institutions, and more space and support for youth to lead and shape digital civic life. Yet these same frameworks carry real risks of abuse. Across the Sahel, laws designed to govern digital spaces have been instrumentalised to silence dissent, restrict online organising, and justify internet shutdowns during moments of political crisis.
Authors: Zara Schroeder, Marie Batista, Yossabel Chetty, Leslie Dwolatzky, Kola Ijasan, and Herman Wasserman.
Cover photo: © Al-Amin Muhammad on Pexels.
