Workshop 3 – Regional workshop for Africa
14 October 2026
EN - FR
16h00 - 17h30 - CET+1
Agenda
Room 2
Online fraud is one of the fastest-growing threats to economic security across Africa. While domestic authorities remain constrained by fragmented legal frameworks, limited resources, and weak cross-border coordination mechanisms, criminal networks operate seamlessly across borders from mobile money scams and SIM-swap fraud to phishing campaigns and investment schemes. Addressing this challenge requires more than national action: it demands a shared regional vision. The session is designed as a structured working conversation to identify a provisional set of regional priorities on online fraud that domestic authorities can use as a foundation for future cooperation and policy development. The discussion will be grounded in the current landscape, drawing on the latest data on fraud typologies, trends, and the gaps in existing regional responses. By the close of the session, participants will have produced a ranked shortlist of five to eight regional priorities, a working reference, deliberately framed as a practitioner tool rather than a policy commitment. The output is intended to guide operational cooperation, inform training programmes, and help domestic authorities align their day-to-day work on online fraud.
Presentations and panel discussions
- Materials
Resources
Council of Europe:
- 135th Session of the Committee of Ministers (Chișinău, 14-15 May 2026), Feasibility study on the possible elaboration of a legal instrument on foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), including disinformation
- Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY): T-CY Guidance Note on election interference
- Council of Europe standards in the electoral field & Reference standards of the Council of Europe - Elections
- Council of Europe / Venice Commission:
- Interpretative declaration of the Code of good practice in electoral matters as concerns digital technologies and artificial intelligence (December 2024)
- Urgent Report on the Cancelation of Election Results by Constitutional Courts (January 2025) CDL-PI(2023)
- Reports and recommendations regarding elections and political parties Council for Democratic Elections - Venice Commission of the Council of Europe
- Joint report on digital technologies and elections https://www.coe.int/en/web/venice-commission/-/CDL-AD(2019)016-e
- Council of Europe Guidance note on countering the spread of online mis- and disinformation through fact-checking and platform design solutions https://www.coe.int/en/web/freedom-expression/-/new-guidance-note-on-countering-the-spread-of-online-mis-and-disinformation-through-fact-checking-and-platform-design-solutions
European Union:
- Digital Services Act (European Union, 2024)
- The Code of Conduct on Disinformation | Shaping Europe’s digital future
- Transparency Centre
- EU External Action Service: Reports on Information Integrity and Countering Foreign Information Manipulation & Interference (FIMI) https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/information-integrity-and-countering-foreign-information-manipulation-interference-fimi_en
- EU NIS 2 Directive - 2022/2555 - EN - EUR-Lex
- ENISA Opinion Paper_03.indd : Election Cybersecurity: Challenges and Opportunities
Brennan Center for Justice
- Gauging the AI Threat to Free and Fair Elections https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/gauging-ai-threat-free-and-fair-elections
Center for Democracy and Technology:
- Adaptation and Innovation: The Civic Space Response to AI-Infused Elections https://cdt.org/insights/adaptation-and-innovation-the-civic-space-response-to-ai-infused-elections/
- Adaptation and Innovation: The Civic Space Response to AI-Infused Elections
- This is Not An #Ad: Political Influencers, Elections, and Information Integrity on Social Media
- Generating Confusion: Stress-Testing AI Chatbot Responses on Voting with a Disability
- Election Integrity Recommendations for Generative AI Developers
- Rules of the Road: Political Advertising on Social Media in the 2024 U.S. Election
Institute for Strategic Dialogue:
- All operations on Armenia: Russia’s influence machine targets the vote, https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/all-operations-on-armenia-russias-influence-machine-targets-the-vote/
- The achilles’ heel of EU’s media sanctions: Reassessing RT Deutsch access ahead of Germany’s 2025 Federal Election https://www.isdglobal.org/digital_dispatches/the-achilles-heel-of-eus-media-sanctions-reassessing-rt-deutsch-access-ahead-of-germanys-2025-federal-election/
- Effectiveness of the sactions on Russian state-affiliated media in the European Union https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Effectiveness-of-the-sanctions-on-Russian-state-media-1.pdf
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA):
- Cybersecurity in Elections https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/cybersecurity-in-elections-models-of-interagency-collaboration.pdf
Microsoft:
- Russia, Iran, and China continue influence campaigns before Election Day 2024 | Security Insider
- Russia-linked operators engaged in expansive efforts to influence US voters | Security Insider
- Iran steps into US election 2024 with cyber-enabled influence operations | Security Insider
- How Russia is trying to disrupt the 2024 Paris Olympic Games | Security Insider
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCPR):
VIGINUM (France):
- Analysis of the Russian information manipulation set Storm-1516: 20250507_TLP-CLEAR_NP_SGDSN_VIGINUM_Technical report_Storm-1516.pdf
If you have any questions related to this workshop, please contact the Octopus Conference Secretariat