Governance Archives - tandaabiashara

Oct112019 by Nasha HarperNo Comments

Facebook’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Programme Expands 10 African countries

Social media giant Facebook has announced the expansion of its third-party fact-checking program to ten African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon and Senegal. In a statement on Tuesday, Facebook said the expansion was aimed at assessing the accuracy and quality of news on its platform while curbing the spread of misinformation. “Working with a network of fact-checking organisations, certified by the non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network, third-party fact-checking will now be available in Ethiopia, Zambia, Somalia and Burkina Faso through AFP; Uganda and Tanzania through both Pesa Check and AFP; Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire through France 24 Observers and AFP; Guinea Conakry through France 24 Observers, and Ghana through Dubawa,” the

Jun72019 by editorNo Comments

UK cybersecurity official says China’s Huawei needs to raise its “shoddy” security standards

Cyber Security, Governance, Internet

China’s Huawei Technologies needs to raise its “shoddy” security standards which fall below rivals, a senior British cyber security official said on Thursday, as the company came under increasing pressure internationally. The US has led allegations that Huawei’s equipment can be used by Beijing for espionage operations, with Washington urging allies to bar the company from 5G networks. British officials have also raised concerns about security issues but said they can manage the risks and have seen no evidence of spying. Huawei has repeatedly denied the allegations against it. “Huawei as a company builds stuff very differently to their Western counterparts. Part of that is because of how quickly they’ve grown up, part of it could be cultural – who knows,” said Ian

May102019 by editorNo Comments

It’s time to break up Facebook opines co-founder Chris Hughes

Business, Cyber Security, Governance, Internet, Mobile, social media

Chris Hughes helped Mark Zuckerberg transform Facebook from a dorm-room project into a real business. Now, he's calling for the company to be broken up. In a lengthy opinion piece published Thursday by the New York Times, Hughes says that Zuckerberg has "unchecked power" and influence "far beyond that of anyone else in the private sector or in government." It's time, he writes, for regulators to break up Facebook (FB). "Mark is a good, kind person. But I'm angry that his focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks," writes Hughes. "I'm disappointed in myself and the early Facebook team for not thinking more about how the News Feed algorithm could change our culture, influence elections and empower nationalist leaders," he continues. "And I'm worrie...

Apr32019 by Alex ReeceNo Comments

Benin Internet tax would have cut subscribers by 20%

Governance, Internet, social media

In September 2018, the Benin government proposed a tax fee on over-the-top services. The proposed tax was two-fold: a 5% tax on the pre-tax price for voice, SMS and internet services and a 5 CFA fee per MB for data used to access social media and OTTs. This move was the latest case in a recent trend among governments to impose consumer-related taxes on internet access with the goal of raising revenues and in some cases stifling free speech. A4aI's previous analysis from Uganda showed that a social media tax (a daily fee to use over-the-top (OTT) services such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Viber) increased costs by as much as 10% for low-income groups. Additional research from CIPESA suggested the tax led to a decrease in the number of people using the internet. Key

Jun202018 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

M-Pesa Pushing Against Tax Hike on Mobile Money Services in Kenya

Business, Governance

A proposed tax increase on mobile money transfers in Kenya is drawing protests from several services, including M-Pesa. As part of a new tax proposal to raise government revenues, Kenya’s government is pushing to raise duties on mobile cash transfers by 2%. The government expects to net around $270 million in additional revenues and claims the extra income will fund a universal health care program to cover all households by 2022. But Safaricom-owned M-Pesa says the move could take a big toll, as it will “negatively impact mobile-led transfer services and payments” and reverse the gains of financial inclusion by making it more expensive to conduct business transactions and make payments using mobile money services. Since it was launched in 2007, M-Pesa, the largest mobile money