Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, has announced the layoff of about 1,000 employees as part of efforts to improve efficiency through artificial intelligence.

Evan Spiegel, chief executive officer, disclosed this in a memo on Wednesday, noting that the cuts represent about 16 per cent of the company’s full-time workforce and include the elimination of more than 300 unfilled roles.

Spiegel said advancements in artificial intelligence were enabling teams to reduce repetitive tasks, increase productivity and accelerate project execution.

“We believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity and better support our community, partners and advertisers,” he said.

He added that smaller teams using AI tools had already delivered meaningful progress across key initiatives.

The California-based firm said the restructuring would help cut over $500 million in annual costs by the second half of the year, providing a clearer path to profitability.

Spiegel described the decision as difficult, expressing regret over the impact on affected employees.

“This is an incredibly difficult decision, and I am deeply sorry to the colleagues who will be leaving us,” he said.

Snap joins a growing number of technology companies downsizing their workforce while citing productivity gains from artificial intelligence.

The company has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years amid stiff competition from rivals such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Meanwhile, activist investor Irenic Capital Management recently disclosed a 2.5 per cent stake in Snap, calling for cost-cutting measures, including a review of its Spectacles smart glasses unit.

Shares of Snap rose by more than 7.5 per cent following the announcement, although the stock remains down compared to earlier in the year.

Data from Layoffs.fyi shows that more than 72,000 employees have been laid off by nearly 90 tech companies globally so far in 2026.

National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has cautioned broadcast presenters against bullying guests during live interviews or presenting personal opinions as facts, warning that such actions will attract sanctions.

NBC

In a statement issued on Friday, the commission said it had observed a rise in violations of the sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code across news, current affairs and political programmes.

“Broadcast platforms are increasingly being deployed in ways that depart from their core obligation to inform the public with accuracy, balance and professionalism,” the NBC said.

The commission noted that some anchors and presenters were deviating from professional standards by denying fair hearing to opposing views and compromising neutrality during broadcasts.

It stressed that such conduct violates provisions of the broadcasting code, which require impartiality and fair representation of all sides on issues of public interest.

“Henceforth, any anchor or presenter found to have expressed personal opinion as fact, bullied or intimidated a guest, denied fair hearing to opposing views, or otherwise compromised neutrality, shall be deemed to have committed a Class B breach,” the statement added.

The NBC also raised concerns over the growing use of broadcast platforms by political actors to promote divisive, inflammatory and unverified content.

It emphasised that broadcasters bear full editorial responsibility for all material aired, including live programmes, and cannot transfer that responsibility to guests.

The commission reiterated its commitment to enforcing strict compliance with the broadcasting code, warning that violations involving hate speech, incitement and imbalance would attract appropriate sanctions.

Aliyu Aboki, Executive Secretary of WATRA has applauded the outcome of  the International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit 2026 in Porto, Portugal, where infrastructure operators, regulators, financiers, and global institutions agreed that resilience is no longer a technical concern but an economic one. According to him, “for West Africa, this conversation is not theoretical.

It is immediate and consequential. The region, with a combined GDP of over $800 billion, is undergoing rapid digital transformation. Its digital economy—spanning fintech, e-commerce, digital services, and connectivity—has been estimated to contribute between $100 billion and $150 billion in economic activity annually, with strong growth prospects.

“Across the region, digital platforms are helping to overcome long-standing infrastructure constraints, boost productivity, attract investment, and create jobs. But this transformation rests on a fragile foundation. In March 2024, a series of submarine cable disruptions along the West African coast exposed a critical vulnerability at the heart of this emerging digital economy.

“For several hours—and in some cases days—connectivity was degraded across multiple countries. Banking systems slowed, digital platforms experienced outages, and businesses reliant on cloud infrastructure faced significant operational disruption. The incident was not unprecedented. According to the International Cable Protection Committee, most submarine cable faults globally result from fishing activity, anchoring, or natural seabed movement. What made the West African disruption different was its scale. Multiple cables serving the region were affected simultaneously, sharply reducing available bandwidth and overwhelming existing redundancy”.

Mr. Aboki, explained that West Africa is served by several major international systems, including West Africa Cable System (WACS), Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), and MainOne Cable. These systems collectively provide significant international capacity. Yet their routing patterns and landing configurations meant that a single disruption could affect multiple systems at once. In the aftermath, internet traffic in affected countries fell sharply—by some estimates more than 50 percent—while latency increased and service quality deteriorated. Restoration timelines varied, but in some cases took several days, highlighting both physical repair constraints and administrative bottlenecks. For policymakers and investors, the implications are clear. Submarine cables are not simply telecommunications infrastructure. They are foundational to economic activity.

He noted that more than 95 percent of global internet traffic travels through submarine cables, a statistic consistently emphasized by the International Telecommunication Union. “In West Africa, where digital adoption is accelerating rapidly, the reliability of these systems is directly linked to economic performance. Outages translate into lost transactions, reduced productivity, and weakened investor confidence. At the Porto Summit, I reflected that this discussion is particularly important for West Africa, where the digital economy is emerging as a powerful driver of growth—helping to overcome physical infrastructure gaps while creating new pathways for inclusion and opportunity. But without resilient connectivity, that momentum cannot be sustained. Historically, resilience has been treated as a secondary consideration—something addressed after deployment rather than embedded at the point of investment. That approach is no longer tenable”.

“Across global discussions, including those involving the World Bank, there is growing recognition that digital infrastructure must be approached through the lens of long-term risk and sustainability. Resilience shapes risk premiums, insurance costs, and financing decisions. Where it is poorly defined, it is treated as an additional cost. Where it is clearly linked to reduced downtime and operational continuity, it becomes a value proposition—one that can unlock capital. For underserved regions, this distinction is critical.

“The challenge is not simply to build more cables, but to build systems that are financeable, durable, and regionally coherent. The 2024 disruptions also exposed a structural mismatch. Submarine cable networks are regional in operation, but governance remains largely national. Permitting processes differ.

Emergency response procedures are not harmonised. Cable protection regimes vary in enforcement. This fragmentation introduces risk. When outages occur, delays in customs clearance, port access, and inter-agency coordination can extend repair timelines. For investors, these uncertainties translate directly into higher cost of capital.

Addressing this requires a shift in perspective. Submarine cable resilience must be treated as a regional public good, supported by coordinated policy frameworks. In West Africa, this has reinforced the importance of regulatory alignment through WATRA, which brings together telecommunications regulators from 16 member states. The focus is not centralisation, but coordination—ensuring that critical aspects of resilience are addressed consistently across jurisdictions.

This includes:

• Streamlined and predictable landing and permitting processes
• Stronger cable protection frameworks aligned with international best practice
• Pre-agreed emergency protocols for repair operations
• Improved data sharing on outages and restoration timelines

These are not technical fixes. They are regulatory interventions with economic consequences.

Equally important is the need to embed resilience at the design stage of new investments. This means prioritising true route diversity, avoiding correlated risk, and aligning regulatory approvals with resilience objectives. West Africa’s experience is not unique. Similar vulnerabilities exist across emerging markets and small states.

What is changing is the recognition that resilience is central to the economics of connectivity. For West Africa, the stakes are particularly high. The region’s digital economy is expanding rapidly, driven by fintech, mobile broadband, and digital entrepreneurship. These sectors depend on infrastructure that remains largely invisible—until it fails.

Submarine cable repairs in the region are  inherently costly. A single repair is typically estimated at around $1.5–2 million, with vessel mobilisation from distant bases such as Cape Town accounting for a significant share of the expense. In more complex cases—particularly where multiple cables are affected—costs can rise to as much as $8 million. Limited availability of specialised repair vessels in Africa further compounds the challenge, contributing to longer restoration timelines compared to global benchmarks.

The 2024 disruptions were a stress test. They exposed weaknesses, but also created momentum for reform. If resilience is embedded into policy, design, and financing frameworks, West Africa can build a more robust foundation for digital growth.

What is often overlooked is that resilience is not only about infrastructure—it is about livelihoods. It is what allows a 24-year-old graduate running a furniture business on Instagram in Lagos to continue fulfilling orders without interruption. It is what enables a small-scale grocery distributor in Surulere, relying on digital payments, to keep transactions flowing even when networks are under strain.

At a larger scale, banks processing millions of daily transactions, logistics companies coordinating cross-border supply chains, and telecom operators delivering data services all depend on uninterrupted connectivity. When resilience fails, the cost of downtime is immediate—lost revenue, disrupted trade, and weakened confidence. Resilience, in other words, connects the informal trader, the small business owner, and the multinational enterprise in the same economic chain.

What distinguishes the West African context is that, for many participants in this economy, disruptions translate directly into lost income with limited buffers. Unlike more mature markets, where redundancies and institutional safeguards can cushion short-term shocks, much of the region’s digital economy operates in real time, with little margin for interruption. Resilience therefore does not simply protect submarine cables—it underpins economic continuity.