Yesterday I tried to communicate with a friend in Zimbabwe via SMS. The first SMS message I sent got through alright, even if it took a few hours. After receiving a reply I wanted to send a follow-up and it turned out to be quite long. It spanned 3 messages, but I sent it anyway. Promptly I received 3 messages from another Zimbabwian number saying

“You are barred from using this service.”

That sounded kind of sinister, and I worry a bit about it, since the message involved a message about moving to Sweden. It might have been held by censors, and my number blocked from sending more messages until after an investigation. I hope I haven’t caused my friend any problems…

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