This is the most alarming story I've worked on in a while. The French billionaire Vincent Bollore, described as "the French Rupert Murdoch", is trying to bring Africa's biggest broadcaster - MultiChoice, that's DStv, ShowMax and SuperSport - into his "right wing media empire". Bollore has already created the "Fox News of France" which spews racist, anti-Muslim and climate denialism on the regular. What is he planning to do when he has direct control over 30 million TV screens in Africa? This would be a near monopoly on satellite TV on the continent.

Twitter has suspended our access to the @thecontinent_ account. It says we violated its policy on spreading misinformation about Covid. This was the offending tweet. 1/4 2. It’s a teaser for @thecontinent_’s vaccine coverage. We’ve got a story from one of the most respected health journalists in SA, @LLopezGonzalez, and one from me, based on a conversation with Bill Gates himself. It’s about as far from misinformation as it’s possible to get. 2/4

Thread: In Zimbabwe this week, several prominent journalists, lawyers and activists have been abducted – allegedly by state security agents. This is not a bug, but a feature of Mnangagwa's government. 1/9 Mysterious, brutal abductions are how the president deals with opposition he is threatened by - be it opposition party members, human rights lawyers, journalists, and even comedians. Here's some quotes from our reporting over the last two years. 2/9

Yesterday, @RedMicah and I went to report on how South Africa’s national lockdown is being enforced in its most densely-populated suburb - Hillbrow, near Johannesburg’s city centre. Driving around, we saw a cop get into this white unmarked car. So we followed it. 1/n The white car drove up and down Hillbrow’s unusually quiet streets. Every few minutes, it would stop, and a plainclothes policeman in a red jacket would get out and chase young men in the streets. He was armed with a sjambok - a whip - and he would use it. Repeatedly. 2/n

'Social media propaganda secretaries': the job title for the online influencers being hired by Nigerian politicians to run disinformation and fake news campaigns. @HassanIdayat and @JCHitchen went to meet some of them in Kano, and the details are wild. mg.co.za/article/2019-0… We are really excited to publish the @mailandguardian's first ever story in Hausa, on the people who were running fake news and disinformation campaigns in Kano ahead of the Nigerian election: mg.co.za/article/2019-0…

THREAD: I’ve spent most of today speaking to eyewitnesses, activists and analysts about the crackdown in Zimbabwe. Here are some initial observations. #ZimbabweShutdown We still have very limited information about what is going on. The internet shutdown has been brutally effective in preventing communication both within Zimbabwe and between Zimbabwe and the outside world.

The news from Zimbabwe this morning is grim. I just spoke to an activist in Harare who says they have never seen violence and brutality on this scale. The crackdown came in response to protests against a dramatic fuel increase. #ZimbabweShutdown. According to a medical professional, doctors around the country have treated at least 30 people with gunshot wounds, and 80 cases of serious assault. At least 2 people have died. These are just the cases that make it to hospital. #ZimbabweShutdown