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Eighteen months ago, we wrote about how social media users across Africa will need to deal with the intensifying scrutiny of governments worried about activist influence on platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype and Twitter among others.
In the time since that piece we’ve covered numerous forms of government restrictions on internet usage or social media use in particular. While internet shutdowns get all the press, as they rightly should, what really seems to be happening is that governments have narrowed in on social media as their bête noire.
For example in Uganda, after president Museveni complained about people wasting their time gossiping online a “social media tax” was proposed and is now in effect much to the fury of many Ugandans. The president has since clarified his earlier statements and emphasized the opportunity to raise much needed tax revenue. But as Kampala-based journalist Lydia Namubiru points out, Uganda’s government has a record of online censorship and restriction going back several years and this seemed much more in line with that.
The worrying thing is how this trend has quietly spread across African countries and they seem to be influencing each other. The latest example is a proposal in Zambia to introduce laws to restrict social media use. It’ll join a long list of countries using or proposing questionable laws, technology or just total shutdowns to try and control the government’s message.
The fast-growing tech-savvy youth of African countries, the independence (and economic power) of the mostly US-based social media companies and the early unfamiliarity with the technology of these platforms means many governments are often late and heavy-handed in trying to figure out how to manage the impact of social media.
And to be clear, governments do have (some) legitimate concerns. Take the “fake news” phenomenon. In a previous era, a baseless rumor in a newspaper or elsewhere could be easily quashed by a news announcement on a government-controlled TV network. Now, bad information can very quickly reach hundreds of thousands, if not millions, more people than actually own TVs. And yes, that example could be turned on its head when bad actors are in power.
There undoubtedly needs to be a balance, security is always a real issue but not at the expense of basic digital rights.
As I’ve written before, the mobile operators have a more important role in managing this challenge than they have been willing to discuss publicly. Namubiru explains here how straightforward it was for network engineers to do the bidding of the government regulator on the controversial social media tax. It is possible for operators to be compliant with the terms of their licenses while also ensuring they’re not making it easy for governments to censor or restrict the use of these platforms.
— Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa editor
Stories from this week
Naming a Brussels square after Patrice Lumumba has triggered ugly colonial memories. A public square in Brussels has been named after Patrice Lumumba, the leader of the independence struggle and the first prime minister of the country now known as DR Congo. Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu writes on the significance of the commemoration given Belgium’s terrible history of colonial violence in the Congo.
Engineers want to tow an iceberg from Antarctica to help solve Cape Town’s water crisis. Cape Town’s ongoing water crisis has been approached with many original solutions. Now there’s a plan to tow a one-kilometer long iceberg all the way from Antarctica to fix the shortage. The logistics of such an enterprise and the possibility of the project getting the green light are still unclear.
Heroin is Mozambique’s second largest export—and WhatsApp is disrupting the illicit trade. A new report estimates that between 10 tons to 40 tons of Heroin moves through Mozambique each year. Lynsey Chutel writes about how encrypted apps like Whatsapp are decentralizing the illicit industry and bringing in smaller players.
The unconventional presidential visit of Emmanuel Macron to Nigeria. Emmanuel Macron visited Nigeria for the first time as French president this week and after meeting his counterpart president Buhari visited one of Nigeria’s most anti-establishment institutions, Fela Kuti’s New Afrika Shrine. Yomi Kazeem in Lagos notes that in spite of the relaxed atmosphere on his eighth African visit since becoming president, Macron still has a mixed relationship with the continent.
Zimbabwe’s mobile money collapse shows the vulnerabilities of cashless systems. The two-day crash of EcoCash, Zimbabwe’s leading financial transaction platform, left consumers and businesses struggling in an already difficult economy. From Harare, Tawanda Karombo reports on the existential threat ordinary Zimbabweans feel about their financial system given its history with currency and hyperinflation problems among others.
Cameroon’s Nigerian business community is fleeing as the Anglophone security crisis worsens. Sparked by strikes against the imposition of the French language on English-speaking professionals, Cameroon finds itself in the middle of unprecedented armed conflict. As Amindeh Blaise Atabong reports from the troubled region, the conflict has led to a mass movement of people, including many from the Nigerian business community.
Chart of the Week
Fintech sector leads as African startups receive record amounts of funding this year. We are only halfway through the year and startups in Africa have already raised more money than they did in 2017. The data shows that fintech startups are leading the way as investors seek solutions to low financial inclusion.
Other Things We Liked
Nigerians are creating novel ways to deliver justice. Brekete Family is a Nigerian radio show that aims to settle disputes faster than the courts. For Reuters, Abraham Achirga and Paul Carsten, explain how the show acts as a mediator of conflict between individuals and helps ordinary citizens call up government institutions to demand accountability.
Failed promises of freedom and democracy in Djibouti. Daher Ahmed Farah, for Mail & Guardian, makes the case that, even after 41 years of independence, Djibouti is not truly liberated. The country’s current combination of a corrupt state and foreign-operated military bases are a far cry from the anti-colonial hopes of freedom and democracy that independence leaders fought for from France.
Keep an eye on
EurAfrican Forum, Cascais, Portugal (July 10). The one-day event whose theme is “Crafting Coalitions for Change, aims to foster stronger collaboration between Europe and Africa.
*This brief was produced while listening to Dance in the Rain by 2Face Idiba (Nigeria)
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, EcoCash dollars and African icebergs to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day. This newsletter was compiled by Kemi Lijadu and edited by Yinka Adegoke.
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