Ethiopia announced its plans to launch a state-owned, social media platform that would essentially compete with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. With the ongoing internal conflict with the Tigray region, the war is not just on the grounds; it’s a war of words — and its mouthpiece is social media.
Director General of Information Network Security Agency (INSA), Shumete Gizaw, expressed his frustration when accusing Facebook of deleting posts and user accounts, which he felt was “disseminating the true reality about Ethiopia.” Gizaw says that “the government wants its local platform to replace Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Zoom.”
Days before the elections in June, Facebook said that it removed a network of what it considered to be fake accounts. “Given the upcoming election and the ongoing tensions in Ethiopia, our teams moved as quickly as possible to complete the investigation and disrupt this operation,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Security Policy. Facebook targeted specific users who are linked to individuals associated with the INSA, where Facebook felt users were “breaching its policies on coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
Facebook cancelled 65 Facebook users accounts, 52 pages, 23 groups, and 32 Instagram accounts in Ethiopia. Gleicher says that “the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts as a central part of their operations to mislead people about who they are and what they are doing, and that was the basis for our action.” The Ethiopian government has argued against these accusations. And the result of he said/she said is a new app in the making.
Competing with Facebook might be one thing, but “replacing” it may be a hard feat. Ethiopia has approximately 6 million Facebook users. Whether or not users will be forced to stop by losing access is unknown. And whether or not they will be willing to engage with the Ethiopian-owned social media platform is also hard to tell.
If Ethiopia is attempting to replicate someone else’s success, there’s no better place than China, where it’s been tried and verified. China created WeChat, which was launched in 2011. It began as a messaging app, similar to WhatsApp. But it has since been enhanced and allows users to shop, pay bills, find local hangouts, book doctor appointments, hail taxis, file police reports, and even conduct video conference calls.
And since Facebook has been banned in China since 2009 (although companies can use it for advertising), it’s the go-to app for everyone with over 1 billion users in China alone, including New York public relations professional, Adam Sohmer, when communicating with his clients in China. While still in its inchoate stage, at least Ethiopia has a blueprint if it intends to make it just as sophisticated.
The question is whether or not Ethiopia can replicate China’s success and how well its citizens react to the new application. As of now, Ethiopia’s Communications Security Agency says that “it does not plan to block global services.” So it may just rival its competition vs replacing it. Since Gidsaw’s manifesto and accusations against Facebook, Ethiopia has not gotten a response. And Gizaw has not specified when the application is expected to launch.
