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The sky’s green? That’s a white lie not an opinion

Saturday May 30 2020
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The twitter page of US President Donald Trump's is displayed on a mobile phone in Vaasa, Finland, on May 29, 2020. Twitter on May 29, 2020 flagged a post by US President Donald Trump on the unrest in Minneapolis as 'glorifying violence', saying the tweet violated its rules but would not be removed.

By NERIMA WAKO-OJIWA

With over half of Kenya’s population made up of youth, some of the most active internet sites are social media platforms. The youth get all their information from social media accounts often run by non-journalist individuals.

A study we conducted in 2017, showed that most Kenyan youth get their information from celebrities, influencers and even politicians, as people that they admire and look up to for whatever reason.

Very few cited a newspaper or news clip, unless a link was shared on social media they were engaging in a particular discussion.

At a time when information about practically anything is just a click away, there is too much information, to say the least. This means both fake and real news make the rounds. Everyone can access or share whatever they please.

This has brought about the most unlikely of relationships. Those who run these social media apps have been working with health authorities worldwide to co-ordinate response to the coronavirus pandemic.

They have been working with the World Health Organisation, Centres for Disease Control and Health officials on strategic communications, making it easier to find factual information and its importance.

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Compared with a few months ago, it is now standard to be directed to the WHO site on your Facebook account, for verified number of cases globally or see advertising on health precautions.

During this period, social media companies have been requested to step up, especially in stopping the sharing of misinformation on Covid-19. For instance, TikTok a Chinese social media app popular with youth and young adults worldwide, announced earlier this month that it would be partnering with the WHO to spread verified information on the virus and information on best practices.

Twitter too has been addressing misinformation, focusing on stopping false information on the virus. They alerted users about false information that was shared by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. But his week they directed users to a fact check site on two tweets by US President Donald Trump on ballot mailing because the tweet was misleading.

Social media platforms have in the past been blamed for not acting against misinformation or hate speech content. In Africa, this is matter of life and death.

In South Sudan in 2013, hate speech content posted on social media from the diaspora instigated violence. There are those who argue that these measures are hurting freedom of speech and expression, but saying the sky is green is not an opinion, it is a white lie. We need to be concerned, especially when lies posted by world leaders go unquestioned.

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa is the executive director, Siasa Place. @NerimaW

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