Digital and human rights campaigners have warned that Twitter’s decision to fire its human rights team will have “serious consequences” on LGBTIQ+ and civil rights in Africa, openDemocracy can reveal.
The warning comes days after the social media site laid off most of its staff in Africa, despite having promised a “long-term commitment to the region” when it announced it was opening its first African office, in Ghana, last year.
Unlike their counterparts elsewhere, the sacked employees in Accra, Ghana’s capital, were not offered a severance package, according to a report by CNN. Some fear these redundancies, at Twitter’s only office on the continent, could mean the end of Twitter’s presence in Africa altogether.
