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Social media are praised as arenas for free speech which came with emancipation and reversing authoritarian governments control of media. This article compares and contrasts the hypocrisy of the alleged promotion of free speech in Africa and the global South and denying it to Trump and his supporters in the USA when the messages had comparatively the same effects of fomenting 'public disorder' in the name of free speech. Using Facebook and Twitter as the case social media platforms of analysis, the paper critically reviewed literature related to the subject. It is observable that social media has often times promoted the circulation of violent and protest foment information in the global South, and regarded this as emancipatory and democratic. Whereas, in the global North, more specifically, by focusing on the 2020 USA's contested Presidential election, it is noted that social media companies quickly stepped in to block Donald Trump statements deemed to ignite political insurrection and glorification of violence. What we then observe is the hypocritical nature of social media platforms and a continued perpetuation of the centre- periphery prism hinged on maintain a hegemonic force on the global South states that do not own and control the social media platforms.

The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) introduced Zimbabwe into the realm of China during the liberation struggle as it sourced military support. In line with the Chinese dominance in ZANU, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) guerrilla warfare followed the Maoist doctrine. However, at independence, Zimbabwe joined the British Commonwealth and became a part of the western orbit. Although the country continued to have some form of political and economic linkages with China, the relations were cosmetic. It was at the fall of the cordial relations with the West at the end of the 1990s that Zimbabwe refocused on China. Zimbabwe hinged its survival on Chinese support as it turned full circle to the East. This paper analyses the long historical relations between Zimbabwe and China. It argues that political transformations returned back Zimbabwe to China's hegemony. The paper is based on qualitative research methods and information was gathered primarily through the use of archival data.