Twitter Ban: Africa is Becoming Home to Internet and Social Media Censorship | #5
In 2021, 10 African countries shut down at least one social media platform. $15 million to plant a company.
It has been ages, literarily!
This is my first newsletter in about nine months. I ghosted. I ran away without giving you notice, I am sorry.
What happened? Life happened to me. From dealing with emotional issues, to starting a new job and finding it hard to find balance. I got overwhelmed a lot, and everyday, it felt like my life was moving past me. Because of this, I kept procrastinating my comeback date, until now. Finally, I am back here. To those of you that reached out to me concerning my absence, and encouraged me to restart. Thank you! I will mention a few names - Bukunmi, David, . Thank you, guys.
The last newsletter I wrote was sent to 130 subscribers. Now, we are at 170. A hearty cheers to my 40 new subscribers. You’ll like it here, okay?
Before you proceed, I would like you to take a brief moment to share this newsletter with your network of friends - on WhatsApp, Twitter, anywhere. Hit the button below.
Also, if you reading this article and you aren’t yet a subscriber, it’s a big offense oo. Subscribe below, so you will get subsequent editions in your mailbox.
And finally, I have a couple of announcements to make! Read them at the end of this newsletter.
In 2021, 10 African countries shut down at least one social media platform.
One of the highlights of the previous week is the lifting of the Twitter ban by the federal government of Nigeria. As we already know, the Nigerian government in June 2021 suspended the operation of Twitter just days after the the president’s tweet was deleted for violating its policies. The ban lifting was accompanied by mixed reactions from Nigerians. Some were happy and excited to be back on Twitter, some others had raging thoughts and showed displeasure that the ban came in the first place. But for many other people, nothing much changed - VPN way.
If we look deeper, we will find out that social media, and by extension - internet censorship is on the path to becoming the order of the day in Africa. Last year alone, nearly 20% of African countries’ at some point recorded some form of internet censorship. Internet censorship is becoming more common in African countries, with governments shutting down or restricting the internet and social media access.
In fact, according to a report by a cyber security company Surfshark, Africa was found to be the most censorship-intensive region in the world in the year 2021, with a recorded case of 10 countries limiting access to the internet/social media. The tiny contrast in this report is that, globally, the year 2021 recorded fewer cases of internet restriction, as social media censorship dropped by 35% - from 29 in 2020 to 19 in 2021.
The annual report showed that Africa alone was responsible for 10 (nearly 53%) of the global internet censorship cases in 2021. Further more, Africa was recorded to have more reported cases of internet censorship, in comparison with the preceding year. And Nigeria, was one of the countries that newly joined the internet censorship list in 2021.
What other African countries censored social media in 2021?
It started with Uganda on January 12, 2021. The government of Uganda blocked access to social media ahead of its 2021 presidential election.
Followed by Chad on February 28, 2021. Following a raid at the property of Yaya Dillo, a representative of Chad's opposition, access to the internet within the country was hindered.
Next up is Senegal on March 5, 2021.
Republic of the Congo, March 21, 2021
Nigeria, June 5, 2021 - The famous Nigerian Twitter ban
After Nigeria banned twitter, five other countries censored social media at some point.
Zambia, August 12, 2021 - Also happened due to the upcoming presidential elections.
South Sudan, August 30, 2021 - A protest incited censorship
Sudan, October 25, 2021
Ethiopia, November 8, 2021
Burkina Faso, November 22, 2021
An Asian playbook?
One of the things comes to mind subconsciously when I think of the world’s largest continent, Asia, is internet censorship. From the tales of WhatsApp and a host of other global social media companies being disallowed in some parts of Asia. Hence, it isn’t a shocker that Asian countries dominate the list of the 10 most censored countries in the world.
From total Western social media shutdown, to blocking Youtube because of leaked sexual content portraying politicians, more than half of all Asian countries have been limiting access to social media. According to Surfshark, 29 out of 46 countries in Asia have been cracking down on social media usage since 2015.
Right now, it appears that Africa is running in a race to get the baton of internet censorship from Asia. Well, only time will tell.
Impact of internet censorship on Africa’s economic growth
Amongst the other ill effects of internet censorship, the stifling of the country’s economic growth is a crucial one. It is a well-known fact that businesses that only exist online I.e digital-only businesses, would not be able to operate when their medium of operations is shutdown. Individuals like freelancers, gig economy workers who can only get in touch with their clients via social media would greatly be affected when censorship occurs.
Furthermore, in today's world, job seekers have gone past seeking employment opportunities by walking into a prospective employer’s office. As a result, social media has been the means through which job openings are being announced, as well as the means through which individuals' applications are being submitted. And so, you can imagine what happens when this means is restricted.
Take the Twitter ban in Nigeria as an example. It was revealed by the NetBlocks Cost of Shutdown Tool that, for every day that Twitter was banned in the country, a total of N2.46 billion was lost. Hence, this implies that the country has lost about N450 billion in the 222 days that the Twitter ban lasted. Telecom operators also lost data revenue. As daily active Twitter users decline, fewer internet data was used and would as a result subject internet service providers to a reduction in earnings on data subscription. If the restriction is further prolonged, its negative economic impact would then become inevitably evident. Take a look at this. According to the NBS, in Q1 2021, the ICT sector accounted for about 9.91% of Nigeria’s total N40 trillion GDP, of which telecommunications fall under. This figure is too significant to be left to chance.
For Sub-Saharan Africa in general - According to a 2020 Top10VPN report, it was disclosed that Sub-Saharan Africa lost $237.4 million to internet censorship. In 2021, Nigeria alone lost $1.5 billion as a result of the twitter ban, and this makes Sub-Saharan Africa’s losses jump to nearly $2 billion in the same year. That is nearly a 1000% increase in amount loss between the years - 2020 and 2021. These are the concerns.
$15 million to plant a company.
Last week, a European start-up called Vitt Financing, announced that they have just raised 15-million pre-seed funding. That announcement from Vitt garnered attention from enthusiasts, investors, and founders in the global tech ecosystem.
Most reactions from people revolved around how the amount raised for a pre-seed round seems far-fetched.
Below are some of the reactions from the public about the raise.
You may be wondering what this means, and why people reacted this way. So, I will break it down in clearer terms. But to start with, you need to understand what a pre-seed round is, firstly.
What is a pre-seed round?
Pre-seed is known to be the earliest funding stage. This stage typically refers to the period in which a company’s founders are first getting their operations off the ground. An illustration can help out here. If I have a high-growth business idea, and I have figured to an extent what building it would entail. After I become clear about what is to be built, and maybe I have also gotten one of two persons to build with me, the next thing I need is business capital to start building. At this stage, I don’t necessarily need to have a working product yet, but I must have duly documented where the company is headed. Any capital I raise at this stage is pre-seed capital.
Most times, start-up founders fund their “pre-seed” rounds themselves by bootstrapping. They could also involve close friends, supporters, and family and then call it a “friends and family” round.
Now that you know what a pre-seed round is, let’s get back into the focus
Is $15 million for pre-seed Far-fetched, or not?
At this stage, you’re essentially asking someone to take a massive bet and hand over part of their savings to fund your idea. And often, it is probably just that: an idea. Because of this, there has mostly been a benchmark or an average raise amount for funding rounds. Though, these rules are somewhat unwritten. But more commonly, a pre-seed round is averaged as $1 million. They could be as low as $100,000 ,and seldomly as high as $3 million. Typically, you would not expect a pre-seed round raise to near even $10 million. That is why Vitt’s 15m pre-seed raise attracted a lot of public reactions.
But, like many other things in life, there would always be outliers and exceptions. This Vitt’s pre-seed raise right here is one. Also, the tech ecosystem globally is still growing, and hence, new grounds are being unlocked each new day. This pre-seed raise amount could become normalised in the future. Who knows?
Recommended Reads 📝
Women founders raised just 2% of venture capital money in 2021
Thoughts on Y Combinator’s new Deal. A perspective from emerging markets
Announcement! 📌
Change in publishing schedule. This is the first and the most weighty announcement. For the sake of consistency and delivering rich and quality emails to you, I’ll only be able to send this newsletter once in a month, for now. If my bandwidth expands along the line, I’ll be sure to adjust and thereby increase the frequency of buft letters. Once in a month may seem small, so I’ll be compensating by doing more in-depth work, and giving you a richer newsletter, until the next sauce comes.
Secondly, we now have a twitter account - for all things Buft Letters. This newsletter is ours, so please follow buft on twitter. Also when you share snippets from this newsletter, you can tag us and we’ll retweet. Follow here.
It’s Feedback O’clock. I am writing this newsletter for you and I want to make sure I am not just doing things I think should be done, but rather that I am doing things that you want to see and read. So, please take a moment to give your feedback for buft letters here. It’s short. Just 4 questions.
Tell me about the things you have enjoyed, and more importantly, the things you would love to see more. I’ll be looking forward to reading them. I want to make this newsletter better for you, and I need your contribution to be able to do that.
See you in February! *winks
Have an amazing week ahead.
Very insightful, Elizabeth. I had no idea some other African countries restricted the use of social media. That of Uganda really baffles me. Why would you place a ban during that period? What exactly was the aim? Anyway, I will be looking forward to more of your articles. Cheers!