South Africa’s new communications minister stated that this week’s outage of Facebook apps and services should serve as a reminder that the government can do more to support the development of local social-media platforms. Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said that the creation of Naspers-backed messenger service Mxit was evidence that local companies can produce successful technology when they have the right backing.
Mxit had 7.4 million monthly active subscribers in 2013 but collapsed two years later due to the competition.
“South Africa needs to support young people and citizens to develop social media platforms that we use.We cannot be dependent on the West for our technological environment, we must drive this ourselves as a country,” said the minister.
After Facebook services, including WhatsApp and Instagram, went down for about six hours on Monday many realized how much they rely on the company and started criticizing it, saying that it has too much power.
South Africa is working with state-owned IT firm, Sita about how the government can support local social-network initiatives, Ntshavheni said. She added that the Department of Science and Innovation is another institution that can help out.
Sources: Wired24, BusinessTech
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