Tech

Mazwai calls on South Africans to join #socialmediablackout

South Africans are about six hours away from finding out if the country will enter the dark ages again, albeit for a day, as the campaign to conduct a #socialmediablackout attempts to gather momentum.

The irony, ofcourse, is that this campaign is gathering its momentum on social media platforms.

However, it is also becoming increasingly apparent that many on social media are not buying into the idea. The sentiment, from many, is that the campaign is misdirected, idealistic and that it does not adequately address the data issue.

One of the campaign’s champions is South African poet and activist Ntsiki Mazwai, who has has made a clarion call for all South Africans to log off social media on Wednesday, June 21.

The primary objective? To send the message that South Africans are wholly dissatisfied with the exorbitant cost they are incurring for the use of data. The hashtag #socialmediablackout is trending on twitter, alongside #datamustfall.

“The social media blackout is a campaign that is aimed at lowering data prices. Data costs are obscene and are not affordable for people on the ground. We want to bring attention to this issue; we want to engage government and cellular network companies,” Mazwai told EWN on Tuesday.

“We don’t buy data for 24 hours, we will meet back on social media the following day to discuss the way forward. Why should data expire after 30 days when you’ve paid for it?”

Here is what social media thinks.

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