Meta partners South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission. 2 other stories and a trivia

This line-up of stories will help you discover the latest happenings around the tech world, today.

1. Meta partners South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission

The parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp -Meta has partnered with South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to tackle misinformation on its platforms ahead of the May 29, 2024 elections.

Nick Clegg, Meta’s President of Global Affairs, outlined the joint effort, emphasizing Meta’s provision of extensive guidance to the IEC on leveraging social media positively during the electoral process.

Training sessions have been conducted with the Electoral Commission, focusing particularly on utilizing WhatsApp bots to disseminate crucial election updates and information to voters.

In addition, Meta has equipped participating political parties and parliamentary committees with demonstrations of its tools to aid them in their electoral campaigns.

Addressing concerns about generative AI, Clegg underscored Meta’s commitment to ensuring the responsible use of this technology, dedicating substantial resources to implementing appropriate safeguards.

The 2024 elections in South Africa represent a landmark moment, allowing independent candidates to contest national and provincial offices for the first time, with an estimated 370 political parties eligible to participate.

Trivia: Which of the following is a common type of Internet-hosted API?

A. BASIC
B. OASIS
C. REST
D. ANSI
Find Answer Below

2. Spotify Ventures into e-learning with UK launch

Spotify, renowned for its music streaming, podcast entertainment, and audiobooks, is venturing into e-learning, debuting its new offering in the UK.

The platform is testing the waters with a range of online education courses, starting with a freemium model of video content.

Mohit Jitani, product director for the education business in London, explained that pricing decisions are part of the initial testing phase to gauge demand and enhance appeal before wider rollout.

The e-learning content will be accessible through Spotify’s home and browse tabs, labeled under “Courses,” available both on the web and via the Spotify mobile app.

Partners for the Courses initiative include Skillshare (focused on creatives), PLAYvirtuoso (offering music industry courses), BBC Maestro (reminiscent of MasterClass), and Thinkific (for individuals interested in creating their own online learning classes).

Spotify intends to curate its course offerings based on user preferences and interests on its platform, aiming to provide content aligned with audience demand.

While third-party publishers own the videos, Spotify will host and sell them on its platform. Revenue sharing will involve creators, publishers, and Spotify, with content partners responsible for distributing payments to creators.

3. Bolt appoints Justin Grooms as interim CEO, replacing Maju Kuruvilla

Maju Kuruvilla has stepped down as CEO of Bolt, with Justin Grooms, Bolt’s global head of sales, assuming the role of interim CEO.

Kuruvilla confirmed his departure via LinkedIn and another platform, succinctly stating, “One-Click Checkedout from @bolt! Onwards” accompanied by a rocket emoji.

Sources cited by Ripples Nigeria indicate that the decision to remove Kuruvilla was made by the Bolt board.

Former Amazon executive Kuruvilla assumed the CEO position in January 2022 following the resignation of founder Ryan Breslow.

Grooms, who has been with Bolt for five years and held executive roles at companies like Ultraleap (formerly Leap Motion), Datron World Communications, and Qualcomm, will now lead the company.

While Bolt characterized Kuruvilla’s departure as “amicable,” no further details were provided.

Prior to this development, Bolt inked a partnership deal with Checkout.com, designating Bolt as Checkout.com’s “exclusive one-click checkout provider,” with Checkout.com becoming Bolt’s “preferred payment partner.”

Trivia Answer: REST

REST Stands for “Representational State Transfer.”

It is a defined set of standards for transferring resources over the web. The REST method is commonly applied to APIs (“REST APIs”), which allow developers to access data from remote systems over the Internet.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now