One of the nagging issues about social media platforms is that from time to time, you will see fake news becoming viral which is dangerous since this is spread of false information to the masses. Fake news especially regarding corporations or celebrities can become viral in an instant and this can paint a bad picture on the network the news is being shared widely.
There is a case that attributes to this and it is on Facebook where it involves a story of the “passing” of a Tanzanian artiste, Ali Kiba.
Such news made some people think it was true.
The story seems to have originated from a blog two days ago where they “broke” the news complete with photos and a location for his “demise” which according to the blog was along the “Sigona Kampala Dodoma highway.”
First of all, one of the biggest ways to know if such information being shared on social media is a lie is searching for the images on Google. If you’re in Chrome, you can just right click (on desktop) or long press (on a smartphone) and click on “Search Google for this image.” Alternatively you can download it and go to images.google.com, attach it from where you downloaded the file and hit search.
By doing just a simple Google Search, you will realize that it was actually an accident that happened in Ruaka as reported by K24. Another thing that you will notice is how shady blogs have used these photos to spread rumours of the deaths of other people like the Kenyan singer, Jaguar which even warranted him to send a statement that the news were false.
Obviously, these blogs know that anything tragic that happens to a celebrity will go viral and this translates to clicks on the website. News like this that have not been reported by a credible source, just take them with a grain of salt.
