The Executive Director of the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Malam Y.Z. Ya’u, has accused global social media companies of collecting and selling users’ data without consent, warning that their growing dominance threatens transparency, accountability, and digital rights.
Speaking in Kano on Wednesday at a public lecture titled “Monopolies to Fediverse: A Peep into an Alternative Social Media Space,” Ya’u described Facebook (Meta) and X (formerly Twitter) as powerful monopolies operating without oversight.
“Facebook and X have dominated the digital space and have become real global monopolies. Between 2005 and 2025, Facebook acquired over 100 startup tech companies while X swallowed more than 70,” he said.
Ya’u said these platforms operate behind closed doors and shield their operations from public scrutiny. “Unlike open-source software, no one has access to the source codes of these platforms. Their reasoning and decision-making processes are kept hidden from the public,” he noted. “The owners of these platforms are accountable to no one but themselves. They are driven solely by profit and often choose which country’s laws to obey or ignore.”
He warned that users’ personal data is routinely exploited. “As we use social media, we deposit metadata about ourselves. That is why today Google and Facebook know more about us than we know ourselves,” he said. “They collect massive amounts of data — often without our consent — and sell it to advertisers, political manipulators, AI developers, and others. This violates all data protection norms.”
On the rise of artificial intelligence, Ya’u said the risks are growing. “AI requires intimate personal data for training. The more it grows, the more data it needs, and the more invasive it becomes.”
He also accused tech platforms of fueling bias and silencing dissent. “Elon Musk has been known to promote racist and neo-Nazi views and allows his platform to spread such content. Mega tech companies are known to support Israel’s actions in Gaza while suppressing pro-Palestine voices. On Facebook, anyone expressing support for Palestine is treated like a terrorist and banned,” he said.
Citing data from the Sada Social Center for Digital Rights, Ya’u added, “Over 1,247 digital violations targeting Palestinians were documented in June 2025 alone, reflecting an intensifying wave of online suppression.”
He noted that the centralized nature of these platforms gives them unchecked power to control narratives. “Meta runs over 1 billion servers globally and X operates about half that number. Since they control their own servers, they can decide who gets to speak and who is banned,” he said. “This centralization also makes it easy for governments to shut down platforms in their countries.”
Ya’u also highlighted the limitations of platform silos. “If you’re on Twitter, someone on Facebook can’t see or share your posts. You have to create separate accounts on each,” he said.
As an alternative, he introduced dComms — a new locally hosted platform being developed by CITAD. “We are implementing a version of Fediverse called dComms. It is built on a local hosting model that prioritizes connectivity and community ownership,” he said. “It combines the social networking features of Mastodon with the messaging functionalities of Matrix.”
Ya’u acknowledged that alternative platforms remain small in size. “Mastodon has just around five million users, while others have fewer compared to the billions that platforms like Facebook have,” he said.
But he insisted the goal is different. “Fediverse is not the same as SplitNet. While SplitNet is driven by the politics of internet fragmentation, Fediverse is a move towards a more meaningful, people-centered internet.”