The #EndSARS protest has thrown up a lot of issues about the use of information to manage or manipulate the minds of people.
This is warfare and this is a fight for minds and the mind can only informed with news. Now whoever manages the news or information, manages the mind of the people. A notable period when fake news or propaganda was used, was during Adolf Hitler’s leadership of Germany. In fact, there is a New York Times Opinion piece that views Adolf Hitler as a pioneer of fake news.
The #EndSARS protest has been rife with fake news trying to obfuscate and confuse people about the truth and social media was prominently used as the vehicle to achieve this.
There has been a lot of messages on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram trying to associate the mayhem and looting by the hoodlums to the peaceful protesters. Some were used to distort the truth.
A case in point is the Lekki Massacre which happened on the 20th of October 2020. This happened around 7 p.m. on Tuesday when soldiers opened fire on unarmed protesters holding a peaceful protest at Lekki toll gate.
While it was clear that the peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll gate were shot at and some deaths recorded, the state governor stated in his initial speech that there was no death.
With the insurmountable evidence and uproar on social media and the international press, he had to change his report. He later confirmed that there were two deaths from the Lekki tollgate incident
Unfortunately unconfirmed sources said there were more deaths.
Also the army first stated that they were not responsible for the shooting. However they have finally stated that they were invited by the Lagos state government but they still maintain that they did not shoot live bullets.
Fake News!! Fake News!! Fake News!!
Comparing these times with the Adolf Hitler times, we have smartphones with video capabilities. We have more informed people and we have the social media. You cannot hide the truth.
On the part of citizens trying to extend the truth or misinform people, we need to be aware that there are consequences of fake news. For every bit of information that comes our way, we need to verify before sharing.
Fake news is bad and sharing fake news is equally worse.
