Justin Arenstein

Justin Arenstein is the founder and chief strategist at Code for Africa (CfA), where he leads Africa’s largest digital journalism and civic technology initiative, with operations in 26 countries. At CfA, Justin spearheads the development of advanced forensic AI tools, drones, remote sensors, civic technology platforms and data liberation infrastructure to empower journalists and civil society. He oversees flagship initiatives including PesaCheck, Africa’s leading fact-checking newsroom and the iLAB, which combats weaponised hate speech and online extremism. CfA’s TrustLab team tracks surveillance-for-hire abuses and provides digital security for human rights defenders, while its AI Sandbox pioneers machine learning solutions for the continent. Justin also helped five additonal major information integrity and journalism innovation networks and serves on advisory boards for the Partnership for AI, World Bank/IMF and Code for All. Prior to CfA, he was an award-winning investigative data journalist and media entrepreneur, recognised internationally for innovation in data-driven journalism. In 2025, he became co-CEO of ICFJ+, a global initiative building resilient news and information ecosystems.