01
Platform Blind Spots
Global platforms often lack the language capacity, local context, and monitoring systems needed to understand Somali-language content and harm.
Founding Stage · 2026
Documenting digital harm in the Somali-speaking world.
Afka Digital Institute is an independent research and policy institute building the evidence base that platforms, policymakers, and civil society lack.
Evidence console
Somali-language platform research layer
01Somali-language moderation
02Platform accountability
03AI governance
04Digital harm evidence
Monitor
Classify
Analyze
Publish
Status
Founding Stage
Method
Public evidence
Focus
Somali language
25M+
Somali-speaking people across the Horn of Africa and the diaspora
10.7M
Internet users in Somalia recorded in 2025
0
Dedicated Somali research institutions focused on digital harm
Context
A digital public sphere unseen by platforms.
Mandate
Somali-language digital harm, moderation, AI governance, and technology policy.
The Somali-speaking world spans tens of millions across the Horn of Africa and the diaspora. Public debate, identity, business, culture, influence, and harm are increasingly shaped through digital platforms.
But the research and policy infrastructure needed to understand this environment has not kept pace.
Somali research institutions have produced important work on governance, security, humanitarian response, development, economics, and political economy. But no institution has made digital harm, platform accountability, Somali-language moderation, AI governance, or technology policy its central mandate.
Afka Digital Institute was created to fill that gap.
Read the full contextWhy Afka
A name rooted in language, people, and evidence.
Afka means “the language” in Somali. Behind the public name sits the ADIGA philosophy: a reminder that digital policy and platform accountability must begin with the people affected by these systems.
Read About AfkaThe Problem
Failures that remain under-documented.
The visible public conversation is only one layer. The harms below it require language knowledge, platform testing, and disciplined documentation.
02
Monetized Harm
Clan-based abuse, misinformation, harassment, and conflict-driven content can gain visibility and financial reward through platform engagement systems.
03
Gendered Digital Harm
Image-based abuse, online intimidation, and technology-facilitated violence are serious harms in Somali communities, but they remain under-documented.
04
AI and Language Exclusion
AI systems increasingly shape moderation, recommendation, and information access, yet Somali remains underrepresented in the datasets and systems that govern these decisions.
Research
Our research focus
Six research tracks create a practical evidence base for platforms, policymakers, civil society, and researchers.
01
Platform Accountability
Researching how major platforms moderate, monetize, recommend, and protect Somali-speaking users.
02
Somali-Language Content Moderation
Testing whether harmful content in Somali is detected, reviewed, and acted on fairly and consistently.
03
Digital Harm and Safety
Documenting online abuse, harassment, image-based abuse, disinformation, and coordinated manipulation.
04
AI Governance
Studying how automated moderation, large language models, and AI-generated content affect Somali-language information spaces.
05
Creator Monetization and Platform Access
Examining how unequal access to platform monetization shapes creator incentives and online public culture.
06
Language Justice
Advocating for better treatment of under-resourced languages in technology systems, content moderation, search, and digital policy.
How Afka works
A disciplined research workflow for turning scattered online incidents into public evidence.
01
Document
Collect evidence through interviews, monitoring, case studies, platform tests, and open-source research.
02
Analyze
Turn scattered incidents into patterns, findings, datasets, and policy insight.
03
Publish
Produce research reports, policy briefs, explainers, platform accountability notes, and public-interest analysis.
04
Engage
Work with civil society, researchers, journalists, platform policy teams, donors, and policymakers.
What Afka will publish
Research Reports
Policy Briefs
Digital Harm Monitor
Platform Accountability Notes
AI and Somali Language Briefings
Commentary
Independence
Independent, nonpartisan, evidence-led.
Afka is designed to protect its research from political, commercial, and platform interference.
Research Integrity
Evidence-based methods, careful documentation, and clear sourcing.
Institutional Independence
Nonpartisan structure and protection from political or commercial interference.
Public Interest
Focused on the rights, safety, and dignity of Somali-speaking communities online.
Why Now
Why this work matters now
The Somali-speaking world is entering a major digital and AI transition without the institutions needed to study, document, or challenge the harms emerging inside it. A credible evidence base on Somali-language platform performance, digital harm, and AI moderation failure can shape donor priorities, platform accountability, public policy, and civil society response.
Afka exists to build that evidence base.
Contact
Work with Afka.
We welcome research partnerships, media inquiries, donor conversations, platform engagement, and civil society collaboration connected to digital harm in the Somali-speaking world.
Emailhello@afkadigital.org
LocationsMogadishu · Nairobi
Research partnershipsMedia requestsPlatform engagementDonor conversations