Good day,
Ogheneruemu here.
Today I'm discussing:
- Twitter pausing its verification process
- Clubhouse gaining two million Android subscribers
- SEC announcing the deadline for crowdfunding rules compliance
Twitter pauses verification
Just eight days after announcing its new verification policy, Twitter has halted the rollout of the process.
Why so early? Well, according to the social media giant, it is rolling in verification requests and wants to review submissions before continuing the process.
Surprising? Not quite. Twitter's public verification and authentication process had been paused since November 2017. That is a long while and is certainly enough reason to have such a high volume of verification requests.
The company's reason for the long halt adds meaning to a popular Twitter bio phrase, "retweets not endorsement". In this case, it wanted to be able to prove that verification was not an endorsement.
What next? We don't know. The company did not reveal when it would resume verification. What we do know is that it might have to refine its vetting process.
It certainly doesn't want another long hiatus resulting in a Sisyphean backlog once again.
Two million new Android Clubhouse subscribers
Three weeks after Clubhouse's official launch on Android, the live-audio platform reportedly now has two million subscribers on the mobile operating system. This is one million subscribers more than it had a week ago.
Good news for the platform, especially as its download numbers dwindled in the last few months. No surprise there, seeing as other social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Discord, and even LinkedIn, have added live audio features in recent months.
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Possible comeback? It's too early to tell. Apart from the steep competition Clubhouse continues to face from other platforms, it seems its invite-only feature is a stumbling block to its growth.
Interestingly, to celebrate this milestone, Clubhouse is giving invites to people who sign up to attend a June 3rd event on the platform hosted by Adam Soccolich, an American entrepreneur.
Good enough? Maybe, but once again, we are left asking the all-important question, "too little, too late?"
This story offers much-needed perspective: This is the last one, we promise, but we're not sure
SEC announces new deadline for crowdfunding promoters
Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared June 30, 2021, as the deadline for compliance with its crowdfunding rules. According to the regulator, the new rules came into effect on January 21, 2021.
After the SEC proposed new regulations were announced in March 2020, it reviewed them in September, with some changes in terminologies and registration requirements. However, very few pain points were resolved, and the regulation remained largely the same.
Apart from crowdfunding portals, SEC’s official press release also mentions digital commodities investment platforms. The phrase, digital commodities, is usually used to refer to cryptocurrencies and crypto exchanges.
Does this mean we would soon have SEC regulations on cryptocurrency as we’ve been promised in the last year? Well, we don’t know. But until then, you might want to take a look at How will the SEC’s new regulations shape crowdfunding in Nigeria?
Last week on Techpoint Africa
- Why some Nigerians might not miss Internet Explorer but would use Microsoft Edge? Read
- How Nigerian non-profit, Enye, is upskilling developers and helping founders build successful companies in Nigeria. Check it out
- Egyptian agri-tech startup, Mozare3, raises over $1 million pre-seed to grow its network of farmers. Read
What else we're watching
- Facebook plans to bury users who regularly share misinformation. Read
- RSA 2021: How Zero-Trust Security Made Remote Work Possible for Microsoft. Interesting
- The rise, fall, and future of once-popular video game company SEGA. Watch
Have a great week!
Ogheneruemu Oneyibo for Techpoint Africa.
