Meta Platforms Experience Global Outage, Nigerian Fintechs Face Regulatory Pressure, and Apple Pay Launches in Egypt

Alexis Rowe

Alexis Rowe

December 12, 2024 · 3 min read
Meta Platforms Experience Global Outage, Nigerian Fintechs Face Regulatory Pressure, and Apple Pay Launches in Egypt

Meta platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, experienced a global outage yesterday, with over 40,000 people reporting issues accessing the platforms. This marks the second outage for Meta this year, following a technical glitch in March. While the cause of the latest downtime remains unspecified, the incident highlights the importance of reliable infrastructure for social media giants.

In other news, Nigerian fintechs are facing increased regulatory pressure. The country's financial crime intelligence agency reported that over 90% of fintechs failed to report suspicious transactions in 2023, leading to heightened scrutiny and fines. To comply with regulations, fintechs have responded by hiring more compliance staff, implementing internal controls, and physically verifying customer addresses. The increased pressure comes as Nigeria seeks to reduce fraud and improve anti-money laundering practices to avoid being blacklisted in international finance.

Meanwhile, Apple Pay has launched in Egypt, marking its first expansion into Africa. The contactless payment solution has partnered with Egypt's three largest banks, providing access to nearly 40 million customers. The launch is timely, as Egypt has been working to encourage contactless payments, introducing tokenisation regulations in 2023. However, Apple Pay's reach is limited to iPhone users, who make up only 14% of the Egyptian market. This could be a strategic move by Apple to strengthen its presence in Egypt, despite the country's new taxes on imported smartphones.

In other African tech news, Starlink has entered Cape Verde, becoming the 17th African country to access the satellite internet service. Starlink has been rapidly expanding across Africa, but has faced regulatory hurdles in some countries. The service provider has introduced rental options and cheap subscription plans to compete with local telecommunications companies and internet service providers.

The World Wide Web3 cryptocurrency tracker shows Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana experiencing significant gains, with Pepe Unchained seeing a remarkable 352.45% increase in the past month. The cryptocurrency market continues to fluctuate, with investors keeping a close eye on market trends.

Finally, the Founder Institute Lagos is hosting Unwind 2.0, an ecosystem event featuring insights from founders who have turned challenges into opportunities. The event aims to bring together founders, investors, and startup ecosystem enthusiasts to network and share experiences. Register now to attend the event on December 13th.

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