Adetshina, who was born in South Africa to a Nigerian father and a South African mother with Mozambican roots, was forced to pull out of the pageant's final in August after being subjected to extensive online abuse and intense questioning over her South African citizenship, including by government politicians. She was later invited to enter Miss Universe Nigeria, which she won, and will represent the country at the Miss Universe pageant in Mexico later this year – but the controversy sparked weeks of online attacks on Nigerians by South Africans, allegedly motivated by xenophobia.
These attacks snowballed, leading to the ride-share prank beginning 16 August. South African users shared screenshots of their orders and in-app messages taunting unsuspecting cab drivers in Nigeria.
With fuel scarcity having already driven up prices in Nigeria in recent months, the financial implications for the drivers were real. Rosco told openDemocracy that the app-hijacking prank cost him between 13,000 and 15,000 naira ($8-10) in lost earnings on one day alone – a significant portion of the $20-30 he earns on an average day.
Rosco believes Bolt should compensate affected drivers for the loss of income and the risk to safety while waiting for customers and trying to figure out whether they were real or not.
"It was risky because the place I had to wait at was quiet and dark. I could have been attacked," said Rosco.
His anger was shared by another Bolt driver in Lagos openDemocracy spoke with. "I didn't find [the pranks] funny. It irked me up and cost me time and fuel," said Kelechi*, who has been with Bolt since it debuted in Nigeria in 2016.
Many of the drivers told openDemocracy that during the prank they had no idea what was going on and were confused by all the fake trips. They said they only found out the explanation from social media or other drivers – often after several days.
Rosco, for example, did not discover the reason for the bizarre events until 22 August, when a fellow driver sent him a satirical animated comedy skit by comedian Willy Kanga on the 'Bolt war' between Nigerians and South Africans.
"I realised then what had happened to me. At some point, a South African rider was [verbally] abusive [via the in-app message feature], but I was not even aware of the row then," said Rosco.
Kelechi also found out the reason for his fake trips while scrolling social media.
Bolt, the drivers said, did not attempt to communicate with them during or after the pranks, either through in-app messaging or via their association groups and unions. Several posts on a Facebook group for drivers in Nigeria suggest Uber also failed to communicate with its drivers during the prank, although openDemocracy has not been able to confirm this not with any Uber drivers.
By 22 August, Nigerians had also begun to request journeys in South Africa on the Bolt ride-share app, forcing the company to restrict inter-country app access between the two nations for several days from 23 August. It's unclear how many drivers in both countries were affected.
Bolt ignores affected drivers
Nigerian drivers and workers' rights campaigners told openDemocracy that the prank and the companies' responses highlight larger labour and safety issues within the 'gig economy', a widely used term for short-term labour exchange typically carried out over apps or online platforms.
In Nigeria, the ride-hailing industry was worth over $240m in revenue last year and in South Africa it is projected to be worth $340m this year.
Uber and Bolt, the market leaders in both countries, have been the subject of persistent complaints about their disregard for drivers' working conditions since they began operating in Africa in 2014 and 2016 respectively.
Nigerian drivers want ride-share apps to consider them workers rather than contractors, which would mean they would be legally entitled to employment benefits. Rosco, who drives for both Uber and Bolt, has completed more than 17,000 Bolt rides since 2016 – yet does not have the benefits that would come with being an employee for the company, such as sick pay or a pension.
In 2017, Nigerian drivers sued Uber and Bolt for insurance and pension benefits. The case is awaiting judgment. Meanwhile, one Nigerian union threatened to bring a lawsuit for worker status in 2021 and another, the Amalgamated Union of App-based Transport Workers of Nigeria, last year said it was considering a "one million man protest" after Uber and Bolt refused to recognise the union, saying it had made "incorrect claims that drivers are employees, not independent contractors".
Both Uber and Bolt have been sued in some European countries, including in the Netherlands where Uber drivers won their case. In 2021, the UK Supreme Court ruled in favour of Uber drivers who had sued for legal recognition and protection as 'workers' instead of 'partners'.
Kofi Yeboah, a program officer at the Mozilla Foundation, a US-based global tech non-profit, told openDemocracy that the lack of workers' rights has worsened the situation of the pranked drivers.
Yeboah said: "In a more formal setting, the pranked driver could ask Bolt for compensation because the company takes that risk on behalf of the driver, but in this case, the Nigerian drivers are not employees."
Bolt did not respond to openDemocracy's questions on whether there will be compensation for affected drivers, instead responding with a general media briefing from its country manager Yahaya Mohammed.
This said: "Following a thorough investigation and the implementation of enhanced security measures, we have addressed this issue swiftly by restricting inter-country ride requests.
"Additionally, those responsible for this malicious activity have been identified and held accountable by blocking them from the Bolt app."
Drivers, however, noted that riders can easily bypass the block by opening up another account under a different name and phone number and that the move would not effectively protect them from malicious prank orders within the country if similar prank attacks were to happen in the future.
Kelechi suggested Bolt instead consider a years-long request from drivers to issue riders with cancellation fees. Currently, riders are not penalised for cancelling a trip, while cancellation by drivers affects their score rating, which reduces their visibility to riders.
Xenophobia spilling over borders
The long-standing rivalry between South Africa and Nigeria has origins in xenophobic anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner sentiments in South Africa.
Digital and human rights activists and xenophobia experts who spoke to openDemocracy said the mass cab-hailing pranks are indicative of how grossly underresourced and underprepared online platforms are to deal with such issues, warning that the digital giants' "piecemeal approach" to countering hate fell awfully short.
Silindile Nanzile Mlilo, a doctoral research fellow at XenoWatch, a xenophobia reporting platform by the African Centre for Migration & Society at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, told openDemocracy it is "important for companies to take into consideration the cultural context in which these apps operate and what constitutes hateful conduct".
Ayo Sogunro, a Nigerian human rights lawyer and activist who has studied and worked in South Africa since 2017, remarked on the efficacy of social media platforms as conduits for hateful sentiment.
He said: "The aim of xenophobic violence is often to stop economic access for the victims, and with social media especially as seen with the recent Uber and Bolt prank attacks, the perpetrators are able to achieve this without physical violence."
Yeboah of Mozilla Foundation said tighter controls and fines by African regulators could deliver desired results for drivers, but there are some complications.
"We have always been experiencing the piecemeal approach to how these tech companies manage hateful content yet they have the resources to be able to anticipate hate and counter it," said Yeboah.
But African governments view e-hailing companies as essential in job creation for an urban youth population already burdened by high levels of unemployment. "They don't want those jobs to go away because they can't provide them," he added.
Araoluwa*, a Nigerian Bolt driver who also got prank orders on 22 August told openDemocracy he was unhappy that his and other drivers' time and resources were wasted, and called for peace between the two countries.
"Nigerians and South Africans need to look into [this rivalry] before it generates war. It's becoming too much between the two countries and [yet] I love South Africans," said Araoluwa.
Uber did not respond to openDemocracy's requests for comment.
*Drivers' names have been changed for their safety.
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