Mark Zuckerberg apologises for Whatsapp temporary shut down, to add 3,000 staff to stop suicide, murder on facebook

Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg has apologized to all Whatsapp users who experienced a temporary shutdown of the services last week. WhatsApp, a popular messaging service owned by Facebook Inc, suffered a widespread global outage on Wednesday that lasted for several hours before being resolved. The apology reads: “Earlier today, WhatsApp users in all parts of the world were unable to access WhatsApp for a few hours. We have now fixed the issue and apologise for the inconvenience.” 

WhatsApp was down in parts of India, Canada, the United States and Brazil, according to Reuters. It affected people who use the service on Apple Inc’s iOS operating system, Alphabet Inc’s Android and Microsoft Corp’s Windows mobile OS. WhatsApp’s is used by more than 1.2 billion people around the world and is a key tool for communications and commerce in many countries. The service was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion.

Zuckerberg has also beefed up the number of administrators on Facebook from 4500 to 7500. This is in order to enable adequate review of activities on the Platform especially in the light of live suicide and killings via Facebook  

Zuckerberg in a statement, said: “If we’re going to build a safe community, we need to respond quickly. We’re working to make these videos easier to report so we can take the right action sooner – whether that’s responding quickly when someone needs help or taking a post down. Over the next year, we’ll be adding 3,000 people to our community operations team around the world – on top of the 4,500 we have today – to review the millions of reports we get every week, and improve the process for doing it quickly. “These reviewers will also help us get better at removing things we don’t allow on Facebook like hate speech and child exploitation. And we’ll keep working with local community groups and law enforcement who are in the best position to help someone if they need it – either because they’re about to harm themselves, or because they’re in danger from someone else”.

According to Zuckerberg, these measures were because last week, he got a report that someone went Live on the platform to confess he was considering suicide. However, Zuckerber said he and his team immediately reached out to law enforcement, and they were able to prevent him from hurting himself. 

Port-harcourt Hubs host Facebook Head of Platform Partnerships in Middle East and Africa, Chukwuemeka Afigbo

Tech Hubs and Start-Ups in Port-Harcourt are still reeling from the recent visit of Facebook’s Head of Platform Partnerships in Middle East and Africa, Chukwuemeka Afigbo to the Garden City on the 28th of April. During the visit, he had several meet-ups with Port-Harcourt’s tech and start-up ecosystem. His purpose - To engage with start-up entrepreneurs and business owners on how Facebook can assist in developing the tech ecosystem in their communities.

He was hosted at the Skybar lounge at Genesis Galleria, GRA, where he interacted with developers, tech enthusiasts, bloggers and start-up founders. Emeka narrated his very interesting story of his sojourn into tech, first with SocketWorks and subsequently Google then Facebook. To Emeka, the biggest threat facing the tech ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East is the difficulty to scale product team as start-ups gains traction. He advised start-ups and techprenuers to be consistent in whatever they do irrespective of how small.  For startups training developers, he urged them to provide some form of incentive for the trainees like post- training hiring opportunities, similar to the Andela model.

Emeka also toured Port-Harcorut tech hubs like Ken Saro Wiwa hub, Bubbles, Olotu Square and KoWorkNg which are all hubs for start-ups and tech entrepreneurs in Port-Harcourt. His visit to Port-Harcourt was facilitated Uche Aniche of Venuehero.co / Start-Up South South and Bereni Fiberisima of Start-Up Port-Harcourt, both widely acclaimed start-up grandmasters in Port-Harcourt city.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM A4AI NIGERIAN COALITION MEETING AND INTERNET FREEDOM FORUM (IFF) 2017

It was a great experience meeting, networking and deliberating with experts in ICT and Telecommunications on issues of internet access and affordability during the April 2017 edition of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4ai) Nigerian coalition meeting. The meeting held on the 25th April in Lagos. Key persons in the industry were in attendance such as the Minister of Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu and past Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Engr. Ernest Ndukwe. I was able to repeat the full potpourri of emotions during the IFF held on the 26th and 27th April Asides from the joys of gathering in a room full of ICT experts, key takeaways for me are as follows-

Nigeria ranks 3^rd in Africa in A4ai affordability index- Nigeria ranked third in A4ai’s Africa Affordability Drivers Index, out of 27 countries. A4ai’s Africa Regional Coordinator, Onica Makwakwa, made the disclosure at the unveiling of the Africa Affordability Report 2017. The report examines the policy and regulatory framework that allows some countries to make internet more affordable, accessible and universal.  Mauritius topped the table with 61.70 per cent, followed by Morocco with 57.75 per cent. Nigeria came third with 56.58 per cent.

According to the report, only five out of the 27 African countries have affordable internet– they are Mauritius, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Sudan. Affordable internet according to A4ai is one Gigabyte (1GB) of mobile pre-paid data for two per cent or less of average monthly income. In Africa however, 1GB of data costs an average citizen nearly 18 per cent of their monthly income.

African countries including Nigeria need room for improvement as we score less than five out of 10 in all policy areas

We need to be committed to more action and less talk- The honourable Minister emphasised on the need for his ministry to work with A4ai on the outcome and resolutions of the Nigerian coalition April meeting going forward. It also served as a call to action to me and other advocates for internet access and affordability to ensure that we make more concerted efforts to achieve our aims

The main barrier to access is locally relevant content and not affordability- From the Asia experience, the key challenge of ensuring internet access for all is the availability of locally relevant content and not affordability. This is a sign that we need to develop content appealing to the locals in order to encourage them to come online Access and affordability are equally important and should be advocated for simultaneously- While responding to an interesting question about whether we should push for access first before affordability, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe admitted that it was an interesting and valid proposal but that in reality for telecommunications and ICT, it may be impossible to have good access without making the internet affordable for most people. It is therefore imperative that we advocate for both to be achieved hand in hand Your voice on the internet doesn’t always lead to influence. We need to do more- We get caught up in the virtual world and discussions in online spaces about internet rights that we forget we may also need to respond offline to get make any real progress in campaigning for internet freedoms. Anriette Esterhunsen, Director of Alliance for Progressive Communications (APC) while revealing this at the IFF urged participants to be aware, Act, not get lost in the virtual world and to also use and enjoy the internet. It was also emphasised by a participant, Nnenna of Web Foundation that we need to also re-orientate people that internet freedoms is not about social media issues but includes issues of net neutrality and data protection Multi-stakeholder approach is important for effective ICT policy making – During the panel on policy and regulatory landscape at the IFF, it was concluded that we need an all inclusive multi-stakeholder approach to ICT policy making in Nigeria where relevant stakeholders are invited and consulted and issues taken to the grassroots to create awareness on how it affects them. Rather than presuming the locals are not interested and shutting them out, we should ask the locals s what kind of web they want We need sex disaggregated data to get a complete picture of ICT use- Gender disaggregated data is very important for a holistic picture of the gender divide and disparity in the use of the internet. We need to find out how internet shutdowns and monopolise in countries affect women and girls. We need to realise  Women also need to build their own army of supporters when they have issues

AFTER 93 DAYS OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, INTERNET SERVICES RESTORED IN CAMEROON

Internet services have resumed in two English speaking regions of Cameroon after a 93 day blackout. President Paul Biya ordered the restoration of internet services yesterday April 20. 

The internet was cut off in January in the north-western and south-western regions, following protest from English speaking community against alleged discrimination by Cameroon's French-speaking majority. The government had alleged that social media was being used to spread false information. The government pressured mobile operators like MTN to shut down the internet by including suspension of internet connectivity as part of their license conditions. No prior notice was given before the internet shut down

Various regional internet and digital rights groups like Internet Sans Frontiers and Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) canvassed for a restoration of internet services in Cameroon using such hashtags like #bringbackourinternet and #keepiton. Top UN officials viewed it as a rights violation.

Sadly, African leaders are increasingly embracing internet shutdowns as tools to stifle spread of information on social media. Countries like Gambia, Congo, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe have all shut down the internet in their countries previously. Even though neighbouring Ghana did not shut down the internet during elections, its Police Chief advocated for it. According to reports, the internet in African countries was shut more than 50 times in 2016. This has spurred proposals to punish African governments if they shut down access to the internet

It is hoped that Nigeria would not join this negative trend

TBOSS AND KEMEN - SOCIAL MEDIA EXPOSES NIGERIAS RAPE CULTURE

One of the most controversial issues emanating from the Big Brother Naija 2017 house is the alleged sexual assault of Tboss by Kemen. During the competition, a video emanated of Kemen allegedly touching Tboss inappropriately while asleep presumably without her consent. The backlash that emanated from this video leading to Kemen’s disqualification and dismissal from the house was enormous. However, what will always go down in history are the chain of events and comments succeeding his disqualification. How some Nigerian men and women rose up to his defence, how some blamed Tboss, the victim, for being a ‘witch’ and cursing Kemen with her bed, how she was the reason for kemen’s misfortune in the house and most recently, how AY, a popular comedian who should know better, justified Kemen’s actions as one of the things that some men do.

Kemen has a right to move on, Tboss has a right to forgive him but what we do not have a right to do as a society is to trivialise such a matter. Justifying what may amount to sexual assault is by no means tasteful. AY saying it was something men or women can testify happens to them is uncouth. How can you compare what happens in consensual relationships or marriages to a girl who has not consented to you touching her while she is asleep. It just doesn’t make any sense to me and to think he should know better! I wonder if it was his daughter, he would still make such distasteful jokes.

Thankfully, social media has exposed just how deep our prejudices against sexual abuse victims are. It has exposed our rape culture which always blames the girl for the man’s inability to keep that thing in his pants or his fingers to himself. I only hope we will use this power of the social media to keep driving these conversations to restore sanity to our system and to bridge the gender divide. To all the women who have spoken out about this and all the men who have lent their voices in support, kudos to you. We shall not be silenced.

FAST AND FURIOUS 8 BREAKS THE BOX OFFICE

The 8^th movie in the Fast and Furious franchise  has broken the international record of the strongest global debut by making an estimated $532.5m (£424.7m) this Easter weekend.

It has overtaken the $529m (£421.8m) rolled in by Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Compared to the 7^th Fast and furious instalments, it made less money in the US opening with $100.2m (£80) as compared to  Fast and Furious 7  $147.2m (£117.3m) in 2005.

The Fate of the Furious - titled Fast & Furious 8 in some territories – drags in big stars like Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel. This installment also has Charlize Theron acting as the villain, Cipher.

MURDER OF JUMIA DELIVERY MAN AND UBER DRIVER: HOW CAN WE GUARANTEE THE SAFETY OF DELIVERY MEN?

First it was the gruesome murder of a Jumia Delivery salesman in Port-Harcourt. Next, a few days ago, the senseless killing of an Uber Driver in Lagos. Both killings had one thing in common- lazy young men wanted to take advantage of goods and services being provided by the online retailers without paying for it. The easiest way for them to do so in their weird calculations was to kill the men contracted to deliver those services to the end consumer. The question this poses is- Should pay on delivery be scrapped? Will scrapping it better guarantee the safety of the delivery men? How can their safety be better guaranteed? Pay on delivery is currently an accepted mode of payment in Nigeria due to various issues like lack of trust of consumers in online retailers and weak legal protection for consumers. However, until trust is built and consumers gain adequate confidence in online retailers to ‘deliver’ their own part of the bargain(no pun intended), scrapping pay on delivery may not be an option. E-commerce companies will have to vamp security for their delivery men to discourage and reduce incidents of armed robbery and assault According to a CNN.com report, being a delivery man is one of the riskiest jobs in America. About 25 percent of delivery men are victims of robberies and assaults. It is therefore very imperative for delivery men and their companies or those they deliver for, take appropriate measures to protect them. First, e-commerce companies and delivery companies if the e-commerce companies are outsourcing, need to set clear rules and procedures for all delivery drivers. Some of the things they could do include-  Ensure that phone numbers of customers are functional and verifiable. Do away with pay as delivery as much as possible. However due to the ‘lack of trust’ in the Nigerian online retail market, it may be difficult to scrap that now. Never deliver after dark. If you absolutely need to ensure the person pays with a card. Print the rules for delivery on your take out menus, so customers know them. Uniforms looks mart but drivers should be encouraged to use street clothes, instead of uniforms distinguishing them as delivery persons to a devious predator Encourage drivers to have as little cash as possible on them Deliveries of products above a certain amount should be discouraged except it has been paid online Don’t deliver after dark. Don’t enter the houses of the recipient too. Ensure all of your drivers have cell phones or a way of communicating with you, or the authorities, in the event of an emergency.