Over 520 million people, or 40% of the population in Africa, now have access to the internet. This dramatic increase over the last 10 years, alongside the smartphone market penetration, has opened up many new opportunities for socio-economic development, including the potential for the internet economy to contribute $180 billion by 2025.

However, this rapid growth has also brought new challenges, including privacy and security concerns, bullying and harassment, hate crimes, fake news, political targeting and manipulation, terrorist recruitment and promotion, and financial scams.

‍To address these issues, the Africa Online Safety Fund, with financial support from Google.org, has been established to finance innovative existing and new solutions to these challenges. ‍

‍Applications are open between 1 March - 30 April 2023. Click here to apply.