Social Media – Africa Tech Digest

Twitter is Planning to Let Users Hide Old, Embarrassing Tweets

5Sep

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Apps, Social Networks

Twitter is Planning to Let Users Hide Old, Embarrassing Tweets

Twitter is planning the addition of new privacy features on its platforms, one of which will reportedly be the inclusion of an option that will allow the archiving of old tweets so that they are only visible to other users after a set period of time (like 30, 60 or 90 days to a full year). Other options could possibly include a feature to limit who can see which tweets you’ve liked, an option to allow people to remove themselves from a conversation on Twitter and to allow people to remove followers without having to block them. According to The Verge, these new features, still in the concept phase, are being described as a “social privacy” suite of options aimed at making more people comfortable with engaging on Twitter. Continue reading

Twitter’s photo-cropping algorithm prefers young, beautiful, and light-skinned faces

10Aug

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Social Networks

Twitter’s photo-cropping algorithm prefers young, beautiful, and light-skinned faces

Results from the company’s AI bias competition are revealing — and helpful Twitter has announced the results of an open competition to find algorithmic bias in its photo-cropping system. The company disabled automatic photo-cropping in March after experiments by Twitter users last year suggested it favored white faces over Black faces. It then launched an algorithmic bug bounty to try and analyze the problem more closely. The competition has confirmed these earlier findings. The top-placed entry showed that Twitter’s cropping algorithm favors faces that are “slim, young, of light or warm skin color and smooth skin texture, and with stereotypically feminine facial traits.” The second and third-placed entries showed that the system was biased against people wi...

19Jan

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Central Africa, East Africa, Nigeria, Southern Africa, Tech Policy, West Africa

Zimbabwe’s internet blackout shows how powerless major telcos are against governments

Internet access was restored in Zimbabwe late on Wednesday, but on Thursday WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter remained inaccessible. More than 600 people were arrested this week as police armed with AK-47 rifles rounded up protestors, according to the Associated Press. At least six people were killed when the military was deployed to quell protests against high fuel prices on Monday. Amnesty International reported eight deaths, while the Association of Doctors for Human Rights reported treated 68 cases of gunshot wounds and more than 100 other cases of assaults. A tense calm returned on Thursday. Zimbabweans were protesting a fuel hike that would see the price of petrol and diesel rise by 150%in a country that already had fuel shortages. Amid the violent crackdown on pro...

Why Mali has its own homegrown version of Facebook

29Dec

By Africa Tech DigestNo Comments

Social Networks, West Africa

Why Mali has its own homegrown version of Facebook

Lenali is a social media app created for non-literate, oral-based communities In 2017, it was reported that Facebook had 170 million users in Africa -- seven out of every 10 Africans on the internet log into Facebook. Platforms like WhatsApp, Viber and Instagram have become vitals tools of communication: for news, elections and, of course, selfies. Social media companies are eyeing Africa as a big growth market, with Facebook set to launch its first community hub in Nigeria this year. However, platforms like Facebook largely center on written posts and conversation, as well as video. For those in the continent from oral-based, spoken language (non-literate) communities with little formal education, these platforms can be inaccessible. This is the case ...