Social media has transformed political communication in Morocco, opening new spaces for expression, mobilization and citizen participation, but it also brings growing risks from disinformation, algorithmic polarization and the opaque influence of platforms. These are the main findings of a new study by the working group on regulation and digital media of the High Council for Audiovisual Communication (CSCA), chaired by Narjis Rerhaye.
Rerhaye warns of a democracy under algorithms, citing the opacity of algorithms and the concentration of power in the hands of large platforms, which raise problems of transparency and citizen oversight. She says regulating transparency, digital education and diversifying information sources are indispensable responses.
The CSCA sets out three imperatives. On education, it recommends digital citizenship modules from middle school, so pupils learn to verify sources, recognize cognitive biases and debate constructively, along with teacher training and awareness campaigns. On platform regulation, it calls for transparency and moderation duties modelled on the Digital Services Act, including explanations of content-selection mechanisms, regular publication of Morocco-specific data and contextual moderation by trained national teams. On governance, it backs regulating polarizing content, fighting disinformation, protecting digital rights and cooperating with Africa and the MENA region to defend digital sovereignty.
The study also examined how Moroccan parties represented in parliament after the 8 September 2021 elections use Facebook, X, YouTube and TikTok, plus their websites. Facebook emerged as a central space for exchange, TikTok as a vehicle of viral visibility among young people, and YouTube as an underused narrative tool. X stood out for its reactivity, while websites kept an institutional role without real citizen appeal.
The sample covered 12 parties between January and May 2026, including 2,651 Facebook posts, 925 TikTok videos from six parties, 507 YouTube videos from five parties and 1,012 posts from four parties on X.
