Elon, Twitter, Africa
Elon Musk’s Twitter pitch deck appears to have envisioned: (1) a revised or emboldened ‘free speech’ mandate[1], and (2) increased revenues through new subscriptions and the addition of a payments business to the platform[2]. Although the USD44 billion Twitter acquisition is again an open question[3], these are matters of particular importance in key African markets presently and may linger regardless of the outcome.
Significance – Where is there alignment?
1. Subscribers? Payments?
Social media is already important to the continent. Via the expansion of social commerce, it could become more so.
For example, according to Kepsios’ estimates, South Africans spent on average 3 hours and 43 minutes per day on social media in 2021, and in Ghana, the equivalent figure was just over three hours. The global average is 2.5 hours. Additionally, our own research over the last year has underlined the growing importance of the social media platforms to retail activity in major metropoles in the region. All to say that broadly speaking, the region’s youthful demographic is thoroughly engaged in social media, using it to build community and transact.
However, (a) this activity is dominated by the Meta-owned businesses[4], and (b) payment remains a clunky experience[5], despite Africa’s position at the vanguard of payment related FinTech service expansion globally[6]. Enter stage left Elon Musk with his experience from PayPal reputation as a disruptor.
2. Opening up the digital town square
Elon Musk has been critical of “censorship that goes far beyond the law”[7], presumably US law. He has also said that he would reverse former US President Donald Trump’s permanent twitter ban, were he at the helm of the company[8]. On the face of it, there is common cause there with some leaders on the continent.
In June 2021, Nigeria’s now-outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari, tweeted that “many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.” Twitter took the post down and suspended the Buhari account’s posting privileges for 12 hours. Nigeria responded with a ban on twitter that lasted 7 months.
That said, a libertarian approach to speech moderation would face its challenges as well. As recently 18 May, Nigerian authorities were criticising Meta for allowing “the increasing use of Facebook by separatists and anarchists”, in particular the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group.[9]
Outlook – On the horizon
One take-away is that whether Musk walks away/is allowed to walk away from the Twitter deal or not, there is a lot to keep Twitter busy in Africa in the coming years. Payments could be a part of this. There is another take-away. The grinding of ideological, geopolitical, economic, and commercial plates that is underway globally has immediate meaning in African spaces. The social media behemoths FinTech operations referenced above are one area. International ratings could be another. Rating agencies appears to have become a new bugbear for Elon Musk[10]. There are older complainants on the continent[11]. See: Belt-tightening and tax widening: Ghana’s totemic E-levy bill passes.
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[1] Twitter, Inc. (2022, April 25). Elon Musk to Acquire Twitter. PR Newsire.
[2] Fm, P. (2022, May 10). Market Madness, The Latest on Roe, and Guest Kirsten Grind by [Video]. Pivot.
[3] Fontanella-Khan, J. (2022, May 19). Twitter deal leaves Elon Musk with no easy way out. Financial Times.
[4] Notwithstanding the Twitter Africa office opened in April 2021. See Twitter. (2021, April 12). Establishing Twitter’s presence in Africa.
[5] Research still suggests that consumers are underserved and overcharged in their domestic and cross-border transactions
[6] Depending on the specifics, ‘Twitter payments’ would be playing against (or playing alongside) 7 of the 10 tech unicorns produced in the region since 2018.
[7] By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far. (2022, April 26). [Tweet]. Twitter.
[8] BBC. (2022, May 11). Elon Musk would reverse Donald Trump’s Twitter ban. BBC News.
[9] Adegboyega, A. (2022, May 19). Nigerian govt accuses Facebook of refusing to act against IPOB. Premium Times Nigeria.
[10] Elon Musk. (2022, September 18). @SPGlobalRatings has lost their integrity [Tweet]. Twitter.
[11] Chirikure, N. O. A. (2022, May 12). How are the “Big Three” rating agencies impacting African countries? APRI
*Image credit: Twitter, Brett Jordan
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