TikTok has announced an additional $200,000 investment in ad credits to support AI media literacy initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Tokunbo Ibrahim, head of government relations and public policy for sub-Saharan Africa at TikTok, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the announcement was made at the company’s third annual Sub-Saharan Africa Safer Internet Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mr Ibrahim said the additional investment was aimed at supporting local organisations expanding AI media literacy across the region.

“With the rapid advancement of AI, we are committed to educating our community online, so they feel empowered to have responsible experiences with AI, whether as viewers or creators,” he said.

He explained that the summit featured discussions on TikTok’s trust and safety efforts, protection of young people online and policy frameworks for responsible AI governance.

Mr Ibrahim said the newly announced $200,000 in ad credits would support local organisations expanding AI media literacy initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He noted that the funding builds on TikTok’s $2 million AI literacy fund launched in November 2025 to improve public understanding of artificial intelligence.

According to him, three organisations in the region earlier benefited from the fund to advance digital literacy and combat misinformation.

He said Mtoto News in Kenya was producing educational content to help young people understand and responsibly engage with AI technology.

Mr Ibrahim added that Africa Check was expanding fact-checking work across Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya to help audiences identify AI-generated misinformation and deepfakes.

He further said the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development was supporting media through its independent fact-checking platform, DUBAWA, to combat information disorder.

Valiant Richey, global head of partnerships, elections and market integrity at TikTok, said the company was partnering with trusted local organisations to make AI literacy programmes more impactful.

“We are partnering with trusted local organisations that communities already know and rely on, because their expertise and deep local connections are essential to making AI literacy programmes truly impactful,” he said.

Mr Richey added that TikTok would continue to invest in AI tools that enhance creativity while strengthening transparency mechanisms that help users identify AI-generated content.

He noted that the summit also highlighted the platform’s multi-layered approach to AI transparency, including requirements for creators to label realistic AI-generated content.

Other measures, he noted, include advanced detection technology and partnerships such as the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity.

Mr Richey said TikTok also uses tools such as content credentials and invisible watermarking to make it easier to identify AI-generated content across online platforms.

He explained that AI advancements were also improving automated content moderation while strengthening support for human moderation teams. According to him, more than 100 million pieces of content are uploaded to TikTok globally each day.

He said automated technology helped the platform detect and remove content that was in violation quickly before users encountered it.

Mr Richey noted that TikTok removed more than 14 million videos across Sub-Saharan Africa in the third quarter of 2025. He added that 96.7 per cent of the content was detected and removed proactively through automated technology.

(NAN)