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Friday, 29 July 2022

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Good morning!

Dennis here!

Another week is another reason for Flutterwave to be in the news. This time the Central Bank of Kenya is out in full force, saying that the company is operating illegally in Kenya. Except this time, it's not only Flutterwave that is being dragged.

The CBK also said that ChipperCash, a fierce Flutterwave competitor is also not licensed for operations in the country.

Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.
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The Government and Tech (GAT) Summit was held yesterday with major stakeholders in attendance. Stakeholders in the Nigerian tech space debated how the ecosystem can move forward. The message was clear; regulations are only good when all parties are involved.

See all our coverage of the event here.
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Summary of the news

  • Kenya’s Central Bank has said that Flutterwave and Chipper Cash are unlicensed to operate in the country
  • Meta shares are in decline after disappointing earnings revealled a host of headwinds
  • Facebook has rolled out its plans to regulate its platform ahead of the Kenya election
  • Apple and Google are under new scrutiny for scammy crypto apps on their platforms
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More troubles for Flutterwave and Chipper Cash in Kenya

Technext Round1
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has said that Flutterwave and Chipper Cash are not licensed to operate in Kenya as remittance operators and payment services.

“Flutterwave is not licensed to operate as a remittance provider or for that matter as a PSB service provider in Kenya. They are not licensed to operate and therefore they shouldn’t be operating. We can also say the same for Chipper Cash,” CBK’s governor, Patrick Njoroge, said during a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting yesterday, TechCabal reports.

This announcement by the CBK is the latest in a series of legal run-ins between foreign technology companies such as Flutterwave and the Kenyan government.
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Meta shares in decline

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Shares of Meta fell 6% Thursday, a day after the company released second-quarter earnings that missed on the top and bottom lines.

CNBC reports that Meta’s revenue fell almost 1% from a year earlier, and shares of the company have lost about half their value since the beginning of 2022. Meta also issued a disappointing third-quarter forecast, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a call with analysts that the company will reduce headcount as it prepares for the economic slowdown.

“This is a period that demands more intensity and I expect us to get more done with fewer resources,” Zuckerberg said. He added that the “economic downturn will have a broad impact on the digital advertising business,” which has already been hit by Apple’s privacy changes. Meta said in February that Apple’s App tracking transparency feature will result in a $10 billion revenue hit this year.
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Facebook rolls out plans for Kenya's election

Amazon
Meta, Facebook's parent company has announced plans to facilitate a free and fair election in Kenya. The company revealed in a blog post published last week that it’s been “preparing for Kenya’s 2022 election over the past year with the help of a dedicated team that’s working closely with election authorities and trusted partners in the country.”

According to TechCabal, the blog post, which was written by Meta’s director of public policy, East and Horn of Africa, Mercy Ndegwa, further outlined the different steps Meta is taking to ensure a safe and secure election in Kenya.

Since 2018, Meta established operations centres for major elections around the world, including in Kenya. To monitor the elections, the operations centre in Kenya is made of a team of experts who have spent a significant amount of time in Kenya, according to Meta.

Election campaigns are often riddled with hate speech, misinformation, and malicious targets at candidates. To reduce instances of this happening, Meta shared that it has built more advanced detection technology, increased the size of its global team focused on safety and security to more than 40,000 people, and hired more content reviewers to review content across its apps in more than 70 languages—including Swahili.

Meta also temporarily reduced the distribution of content from accounts that have repeatedly or severely violated its policies.
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Apple and Google come under more scrutiny

Netflix
In letters to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) asked that the companies explain their processes in reviewing and approving crypto trading and wallet apps for download on their app stores. The Verge reports that Brown’s inquiry follows a recently released FBI report warning that 244 investors have been scammed out of $42.7 million from fraudulent cryptocurrency apps claiming to be credible investment platforms in under a year.

“Crypto mobile apps are available to the public through app stores, including Apple’s App Store,” the senator wrote to Cook on Thursday. “While cryptocurrency apps have offered investors easy and convenient ways to trade cryptocurrency, reports have emerged of fake crypto apps that have scammed hundreds of investors.”

In the letters, Brown asked the CEOs to detail their crypto app review and monitoring processes to prevent apps from “transforming into phishing” scams. He’s also looking for any information Apple and Google have provided consumers about fake investment apps.
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Latest in funding

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Other stories we are following

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Have a great day!
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