This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today.
1. Elon Musk’s legal battle with CCDH set for Thursday
Elon Musk’s legal dispute with the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) is scheduled to commence on Thursday, featuring oral arguments in San Francisco’s U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and will be broadcast live.
Musk, through his entity X, filed a lawsuit against CCDH last year, alleging the organization of disseminating “false and misleading claims” about X.
Established in 2018, CCDH is a nonprofit organization focused on researching hate speech, extremism, and misinformation on social media platforms.
Following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, CCDH released reports highlighting a surge in hate speech associated with X and the potential profitability of reinstated accounts, including that of neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, in generating advertising revenue for the company.
During the proceedings, CCDH will argue against the merit of X’s lawsuit, asserting that it constitutes a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), contravening the state’s legislation designed to deter litigation aimed at intimidating or silencing critics.
X, on the other hand, will defend the legitimacy of its lawsuit, which also alleges CCDH’s unauthorized data scraping and violation of its terms of service through the utilization of Brandwatch, a social media monitoring tool.
Trivia: A collection of digital data is stored in a single entity called a ____?
A. Box
B. Bowl
C. Frame
D. File
See Answer below
2. Nigeria’s BFree secures $3M to recover debt
BFree, a Nigerian startup dedicated to ethical debt recovery, has secured $2.95 million in funding, led by Capria Ventures.
Susana García-Robles, managing partner at Capria Ventures, confirmed this in a statement seen by Ripples Nigeria on Thursday February 29, 2024.
Other participants in the funding round include Angaza Capital, GreenHouse Capital, Launch Africa, Modus Africa, Axian CVC, and several angel investors.
The tech-driven debt collection firm, founded in 2020, aims to revolutionize debt recovery processes in response to the harmful practices observed in the industry, such as aggressive tactics employed by digital lenders.
Led by CEO Julian Flosbach, COO Chukwudi Enyi, and CPO Moses Nmor, BFree introduced innovative debt recovery methods, including a self-service platform for borrowers to set up payment plans and conversational AI tools like chatbots and callbots.
With a growing clientele spanning major banks in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria, BFree plans to expand further with the newly secured funding.
Speaking on the development, Julian Flosbach said: “We collect extensive borrower data, enabling us to develop algorithms for valuing these assets. This allows us to predict repayment likelihoods and purchase these assets from banks, mitigating their risk.”
3. Nigeria and UK developers collaborate to establish Abuja Tech City
The Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology has forged a partnership with Domineum/Edenbase UK, marking a significant milestone with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop Abuja Tech City.
Minister Uche Nnaji, representing the Federal Government, and counterparts from Domineum/Edenbase UK formalized the agreement, laying the foundation for a strategic alliance focused on facilitating technology transfer and collaboration for the advancement of Abuja Tech City.
Expressing optimism in Nigeria’s potential, Minister Uche Nnaji drew parallels to the success of London Tech City, which amassed over 61 billion pounds in its fifth year of operation.
Abuja Tech City aims to evolve into a comprehensive smart and sustainable urban center, integrating tech startups, industries, recreational facilities, educational institutions, and serving as the headquarters for the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology’s Agenda 8 and 9 initiatives, including Clean Tech Program and Green Manufacturing Initiatives.
A noteworthy feature of Abuja Tech City is its designation as a Free Trade Zone, aligning with global trends that leverage technology hubs to drive rapid industrial growth and foster collaboration across vital sectors.
The development consortium spearheading Abuja Tech City comprises the same stakeholders behind the successful execution of London Tech City, positioning it as the second most valuable tech ecosystem globally, following Silicon Valley.
Trivia Answer: File
A file is a collection of digital data stored as a single object on a disk. The type of data stored in a file depends on its file type, typically consisting of text, images, multimedia audio and video streams, data libraries, executable software, or other information. A file can be identified by its filename, extension, and location in the disk’s file system.
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