How social media promotes radical extremism with a high potential to undermine democracy as we know it THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M. MWENDA | Democracy is in crisis. Globally. The risk is not the effort of tyrants. It is the naivety of liberals. For a century, two institutions underpinned …
Read More »Trump launches online communication platform after social media ban
Donald Trump has launched a new “communications” website, which says it will publish content “straight from the desk” of the former US president Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | Former U.S. President Donald Trump has launched an online platform aimed at directly communicating with his supporters, months after his various social media accounts …
Read More »Women entrepreneurs in Acholi explore internet marketing to expand business
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Grassroots women entrepreneurs in Acholi are defying the odds to venture into internet marketing targeting global clients for their locally produced goods. The women market artifacts, African fabrics, agricultural products, honey and jewellery among others through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and …
Read More »Beyond social-media wasteland
Social-media platforms today are entering their teenage years: they have a history but lack maturity COMMENT | MATT LOCKE | On May 9, 1961, then-Chair of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Newton Minow delivered a transformative speech to the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, DC. Now known as …
Read More »Museveni social media team test ‘no reply’ feature on twitter
Entebbe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s social media team is testing ‘a no reply’ feature on his twitter handle. This is the first time that the president’s account which has been in existence for 10yrs has closed a tweet from direct replies. Twitter introduced the option of …
Read More »East African law society sues Uganda gov’t over internet shutdown
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The East African Law Society has sued the government of Uganda seeking compensation to everyone affected for its alleged illegal actions of shutting down the internet during the just concluded general elections. The law society that brings together more than 18,000 lawyers from seven East …
Read More »Zambian gov’t expresses concern over abuse of cyberspace
Lusaka, Zambia | THE INDEPENDENT | The Zambian government on Monday expressed concern that abuse of cyberspace has continued despite heightened campaigns against the vice. Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya said the government was concerned with the rampant abuse and called for concerted efforts from all stakeholders to ensure that citizens …
Read More »Why Ugandans are still using VPN despite restored access to social media
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Several Ugandans have continued to use the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), since the government blocked access to the internet on January 13th before partly restoring it on January 18th. On easing the conditions, mobile internet was still highly restricted and the use of VPNs came …
Read More »Zari teases fans, poses with ‘new catch’ on Valentine’s Day
Johannesburg, South Africa | THE INDEPENDENT | South African based Ugandan socialite Zari Hassan is at it gain, teasing her fans by posing in a Valentine’s Day post on social media with yet another boyfriend. “Happy Valentines day 💘,” was her message, in a photograph with a one “Dark Stallion”, as …
Read More »INVESTIGATION: Inside the Uganda versus Facebook fight
DFRLab confirms that over 30 pages, 200 Facebook accounts banned on Uganda 2021 election eve Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | An investigation by Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) has revealed that hundreds of Ugandan facebook, twitter and instagram accounts were blacklisted in January for inauthentic behavior. What followed was a …
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