The Rise of “WhatsApprocacy.”
How did one of the world’s most fragile states build a world-class telecoms network?
Hello friends!
I recently came across an article titled “Government by social media in Somalia.” It stopped me in my tracks and made me think about governance, infrastructure, and ingenuity in collapsed states.
Here is a quick summary but you can read it here.
30 years ago, making a phone call from Somalia meant crossing the border into Kenya or Ethiopia. Fast forward to 2024, Somalia has more telephone connections per capita than any other east African country and cheaper mobile data than Britain, Finland, or Japan.
So how did one of the world’s most fragile states build a world-class telecoms network? According to the article, the answer lies in the state’s very weakness.
Decades of conflict and instability forced hundreds of thousands of Somalis to flee. The diaspora now sends home around $2 billion annually (double the government’s budget). Those who remained came to depend on these remittances, creating massive demand for fast, reliable communication and financial networks.
This is where telecom entrepreneurs stepped in. With no regulators to bribe or licenses to buy, they built an extensive phone network to meet the demands of a population that had no time to wait for a functioning state.
“If telecoms flourished at first in the absence of the state, cheap internet is now helping to replace it.”
Now, social media — especially WhatsApp — is filling the void left by the government. WhatsApp groups are used to crowdsource capital from “investors” in the diaspora and coordinate building schools, hospitals, and roads. These groups resolve disputes, raise emergency funds, and offer informal insurance. In some cases, they act as virtual courts where elders resolve disputes.
Of course, this “WhatsAppocracy” has its flaws.
“The rise of this WhatsAppocracy is not without its flaws. Hate speech that deepens clan conflict is common, particularly among the diaspora. And WhatsApp groups can raise money to buy guns as well as schools. Still, for now, governance via WhatsApp seems to beat rule by warlords. Somalis are making do with what they have.”
Still, what I find striking is people continue to find ways to connect, support each other, and rebuild — even in the absence of a state or formal institutions. In these scenarios, a new order emerges from the ground up.
Here’s what this story also reveals:
Weak states can spark new systems. Without government interference, Somalia’s telecoms industry grew quickly. The lack of bureaucracy allowed companies to move fast and meet real needs.
Informal networks can succeed where formal ones fail. The Somali diaspora helped create systems for communications, remittances, even conflict resolution through basic tools like WhatsApp.
Communication is the backbone of self-organization. WhatsApp groups became shadow institutions that govern, fund, and protect communities in the absence of a functioning state. But, like any tool, they can be misused, fueling division as easily as cooperation.
Innovation and resilience comes from the ground up. In broken political or economic environments, people don’t wait for saviours. They step up. They build with what they have and create systems more responsive than the ones that failed them.
Decentralized tools like Nostr can take this further. While WhatsApp is powerful, it’s still a centralized platform. It’s vulnerable to censorship, surveillance, and shutdown. Meanwhile, Nostr is an open, decentralized protocol for peer-to-peer communication designed to resist control. For people living under broken political systems, this kind of speech resilience is important.
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