{"id":396557,"date":"2017-06-22T08:26:31","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T08:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/06\/22\/socialmediablackout-south-africans-tweet-despite-boycott-call\/"},"modified":"2017-06-22T08:26:31","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T08:26:31","slug":"socialmediablackout-south-africans-tweet-despite-boycott-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/22\/socialmediablackout-south-africans-tweet-despite-boycott-call\/","title":{"rendered":"#SocialMediaBlackout: South Africans tweet despite boycott call"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/5500947070307_5524856306302.jpg.pagespeed.ce.uFuMb6YI-b.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"IS social media\" data-pagespeed-url-hash=\"2770388867\" onload=\"pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);\"\/><\/div>\n<p>A call for South Africans to boycott social media for a day to protest against high data costs has ironically seen #SocialMediaBlackout trend.<\/p>\n<p>Musician and activist Ntsiki Mazwai had urged South Africans to log off and not buy data to pressure mobile providers.<\/p>\n<p>Discontent over internet service charges in the country\u00a0last year\u00a0led to the #DataMustFall campaign.<\/p>\n<p>But it appears that many users could not help but check their social media accounts despite the boycott plea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cData costs are obscene and are not affordable for people on the ground,\u201d said Ms Mazwai,\u00a0quoted in Eyewitness News.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to bring attention to this issue; we want to engage government and cellular network companies.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Not everyone was prepared to go offline though<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/_96575812_smbthree.png\" alt=\"A tweet reads: \" data-pagespeed-url-hash=\"1129133030\" onload=\"pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/_96575808_smbtwo.png\" alt=\"A tweet reads \" data-pagespeed-url-hash=\"772514091\" onload=\"pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/_96575804_socialmediablackoutone.png\" alt=\"A tweet reads \" data-pagespeed-url-hash=\"1526235551\" onload=\"pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Internet analyst Arthur Goldstuck\u00a0told Fin24\u00a0that although the campaign had fallen short, \u201cin one respect the trend has highlighted the consumers\u2019 frustration in dealing with the high cost of data\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Amid public anger over the issue, South African President Jacob Zuma at\u00a0this year\u2019s State of the Union address\u00a0said \u201clowering of the cost of data is uppermost in our policies and plans\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Globally, South Africa is mid-ranking when it comes to data prices: Expensive compared with many European countries, cheap though compared with the rest of Africa.<\/p>\n<p>In its annual report, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ranks South Africa as 85th out of 178 countries for mobile broadband prices, based on 500 MB of pre-paid mobile data.<\/p>\n<p>The ITU puts the monthly cost at $7.76 (\u00a36.1), or about 1.37% of personal income. In Niger, the cost is nearly $8 \u2013 but that represents almost a quarter of incomes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A call for South Africans to boycott social media for a day to protest against high data costs has ironically seen #SocialMediaBlackout trend. Musician and activist Ntsiki Mazwai had urged South Africans to log off and not buy data to pressure mobile providers. Discontent over internet service charges in the country\u00a0last year\u00a0led to the #DataMustFall [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":396558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-396557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>#SocialMediaBlackout: South Africans tweet despite boycott call - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/06\/22\/socialmediablackout-south-africans-tweet-despite-boycott-call\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"#SocialMediaBlackout: South Africans tweet despite boycott call - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"A call for South Africans to boycott social media for a day to protest against high data costs has ironically seen #SocialMediaBlackout trend. Musician and activist Ntsiki Mazwai had urged South Africans to log off and not buy data to pressure mobile providers. 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