• Nigeria introduced LekeeLekee, created by ARISE and THISDAY founders, positioned as an African alternative to global platforms.

• It offers direct creator monetisation and content moderation tailored to African contexts.

• Emerging in a market of 416M mobile internet users and 35M Ayoba users, LekeeLekee reflects Africa’s push for digital sovereignty.

Nigeria has launched a new social media platform, LekeeLekee, developed by the founders of ARISE and THISDAY media group, and announced on February 2. Positioned as an African alternative to established global platforms, it emphasizes themes of digital sovereignty, economic empowerment, and community-driven governance.

The platform’s creators highlight LekeeLekee as a response to Africa’s reliance on social media networks owned by U.S. and Chinese companies. They argue that this reliance has subjected African users to external policies, algorithms, and monetisation structures. LekeeLekee seeks to provide a locally developed alternative that reflects African priorities and values.

A central feature of LekeeLekee is its monetisation model, which aims to allow creators and businesses to earn directly from their work. This approach is intended to address challenges faced by African creators who have struggled with restrictive payout systems on foreign-owned platforms.

LekeeLekee also intends to establish content moderation standards tailored to African contexts. Its developers suggest that frameworks designed in Silicon Valley or Beijing may not always align with African cultural and political realities. By setting its own rules, the platform aims to balance local needs with global engagement.

Beyond immediate functionality, LekeeLekee is presented as part of a broader vision of reducing Africa’s dependence on external technology giants. Advocates argue that such autonomy could strengthen Africa’s position in global digital negotiations and encourage further innovation across the continent.

LekeeLekee is not the first African social media initiative. South Africa’s Mxit, once widely popular in the 2000s, eventually shut down in 2015 after losing ground to WhatsApp and Facebook. 2go, launched by South African developers Alan Wolff and Ashley Peter, gained traction among youth in the early 2010s but has since faded. More recently, telecom-backed apps such as Ayoba, developed by South Africa’s MTN Group, have achieved millions of users by integrating messaging, music, and localized services, reaching 35 million active monthly users as of December 2023.

According to the GSMA, 416 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa were mobile internet users in 2024 (28% of the population), projected to reach 576 million by 2030 (33%). Globally, social media users hit 5.66 billion as of October 2025 per DataReportal. By comparison, Africa recorded 384 million users in 2022 per Statista—its latest continental tally—highlighting the continent’s growing but smaller digital market share. Against this backdrop of rapid expansion, LekeeLekee reflects Africa’s ambition to shape its own digital future.

Hikmatu Bilali