Technology giants, Facebook have cancelled their upcoming event
in Cape Town, South Africa scheduled for October 3rd, 2019 due to
‘unforeseen circumstances’.
It is unclear, however, if the cancellation is related to the
attacks on foreign businesses that has rocked South Africa in
recent weeks.
“Due to a number of unforeseen circumstances, we have had to
cancel the Facebook ID8 event in Cape Town on October 3rd, 2019. We
hope to bring the event to the region later in the year,” Facebook
said.
The social media company which connects over 139 million in
Africa organised the event for developers and businesses to learn
about Facebook’s new technologies and products.
Facebook has continued to grow its influence in Africa since it
opened its first African office in South Africa in 2015. It has
continued its quest to connect the next billion users by providing
free access to the internet for users in Africa with its Free
Basics platform.
However, Mark Zuckerberg’s firm has also been criticised and
questioned over the use of its platform for spreading
misinformation and the use of user data. Although, no African
country has held Mark Zuckerberg’s company to account especially in
the wake of the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Facebook has tried to deal with misinformation, especially in
view of how it could affect the democracy of African countries. The
tech company banned several accounts spreading misinformation,
embarked on advertising campaigns on how to fact check news and
also teamed up with a number of third-party fact-checkers.
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