How important is digital media in the African democratization processes? There are some evidences that despite the low number of users in these countries, digital media are influencing political actors, debates, and ideas. Focusing on countries like Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe, this paper aims to understand the types of influence digital media exert in political actors and behaviors, and its effects in citizenship and in politics in general. Although there are some studies about the media in Africa, numerous aspects of these particular realities deserve more attention, specially the ones related with the Internet and the Lusophone African countries. The fast development of the new ICTs is influencing societies and politics and these are very interesting case studies because they also represent new democracies and civil societies in construction. In this way, the objective is to gather information from different African countries, some more accustomed to the features of democratic regimes and to freedom in general and others in a more basic stage of democracy implementation, to understand if the Internet is being used in different or in similar ways and in which cases is its influence more accentuated. This paper also tries to give some insights on issues like the role of the Internet in the construction of public opinion in the African context, and its contribution to the development and dissemination of democratic political ideas. The information is gathered through interviews to journalists, politicians and other influential social and political actors, and media analysis.
