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Monday, 18 April 2022

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Good morning!

And happy holidays to you and your family from all of us at Technext.
A series of investigative reporting about founders in the Nigerian tech space has indeed brought the industry to heal.

After an explosive report in West Africa Weekly by David Hundeyin about workplace improprieties at Flutterwave, one of the co-founders who have left the company, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji in a new interview has come forward with his own experience at the unicorn.

The aftermath sent shockwaves across the internet last weekend, as Nigerians on social media demanded that an investigation be conducted.

This has forced the company to say in a new statement that it's "conducting a thorough review."

While the news has been slow and nebulous, the question remains, will another shoe drop...soon at Flutterwave or elsewhere?

Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.
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Summary of the news

  • Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, the former CEO and co-founder of Flutterwave pushed back in a new interview that he was a "ghost founder" at the unicorn
  • Workers at Apple's Grand Central Terminal store have started the preliminary work of unionising
  • The Twitter board adopted the 'poison pill' option, after Musk's $43 billion bid to buy the company
  • TikTok is under investigation over spread of child sexual abuse material
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In the wake of explosive accusations against Africa’s most valuable startup, Flutterwave co-founder speaks

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Fiercely debunking the idea that he was a "ghost founder" at Flutterwave, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, the former CEO and co-founder of the unicorn, in an interview with TechCabal spoke about his experience at the company.

See edited excerpts below:

“When I joined the company, I was told there’s a chief technology officer named Greg, who’s from MIT, whom I’d meet someday. It never happened,” Aboyeji told the Tech news blog that he is also an investor in. “After a while, it became clear what had happened. By that time it didn’t matter. We [Aboyeji and third co-founder Adeleke Adekoya] had already signed agreements, and I decided to just move on.”

“My co-founders informed me that they’ve resigned from Access Bank, but they had to give some notice to the bank, and since they were handling sensitive positions at Access Bank, what ended up happening was they became consultants to Africa Fintech Foundry,” Aboyeji said. Africa Fintech Foundry is an initiative by Access Bank that nurtures and accelerates the growth of fintech startups in Africa.

“The foundation of Flutterwave was a result of the collaboration between a bank and the local tech ecosystem. I think that’s an incredible learning opportunity,” Aboyeji said.
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Workers at Apple's Grand Central Terminal store are moving toward a union vote

Baba Onilu
Apple Store employees at the company’s flagship Grand Central Terminal location have begun collecting signatures to form a union, according to The Washington Post.

In a recent update to their website, the organizers leading the effort say they voted on February 21st to affiliate themselves with Workers United. That’s the same labour union that has helped Starbucks employees across the US unionize.

“Grand Central is an extraordinary store with unique working conditions that make a union necessary to ensure our team has the best possible standards of living in what have proven to be extraordinary times with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and once-in-a-generation consumer price inflation,” the group, known as the Fruit Stand Workers United, said.

Apple declined to tell The Post whether it would support the unionization effort. Those involved in the drive accused the company of employing “union-busting” tactics, including messaging that has tried to convince workers that unionization is against their best interests.
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Twitter board adopts 'poison pill' after Musk's $43 billion bid to buy company

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Twitter adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan, often called a “poison pill,” a day after billionaire Elon Musk offered to buy the company for $43 billion, the company announced.

CNBC reports that the board voted unanimously to adopt the plan.

Under the new structure, if any person or group acquires beneficial ownership of at least 15% of Twitter’s outstanding common stock without the board’s approval, other shareholders will be allowed to purchase additional shares at a discount.
The plan is set to expire on April 14, 2023.

Such a move is a common way to fend off a potential hostile takeover by diluting the stake of the entity eying the takeover.
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TikTok is under investigation over spread of child sexual abuse material

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The Department of Homeland Security is looking into the spread of child sexual abuse material on TikTok, sources told The Financial Times. The platform is under a separate investigation for allegedly allowing CSAM videos to be uploaded to the public feed, while bad actors on TikTok are also using a privacy feature to share CSAM with others.

Protocol reports that the DHS' probe comes after a child privacy researcher reported to TikTok that CSAM was being posted on the platform. The Financial Times found that TikTok moderators had a hard time keeping up with the number of videos being uploaded publicly.

Investigators also found that abusers have used the platform for grooming, which involves befriending a child online and later abusing them. A source told the FT that the U.S. Justice Department is also investigating how predators are misusing a TikTok feature called "Only Me."

The Justice Department launched its investigation after child safety groups and law enforcement found that CSAM content was being passed through private accounts. Users would include keywords in their public videos, usernames and bios, and illegal content was uploaded through the private "Only Me" feed, which shows videos only for those who are logged in. Predators would share their passwords with victims and other predators to access the "Only Me" videos.
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