Lundi Tyamara is the most recent South African celebrity to fall victim to a fake internet death.
While the gospel star was fighting for his life in hospital last month – where he had been admitted for abdominal tuberculosis, chest pains and liver problems – fake internet news website Mzansi Guardian declared him dead.
This news quickly spread throughout the country, with shocked fans sharing the story on social networking sites.
It soon went viral.
After seeking clarity from his manager, Daily Dispatch sister publication TimesLive earlier this month released a story putting paid to these stories.
In the TimesLive story Tyamara’s manager, Anele Hlazo, rubbished the claims of the singer’s death, vehemently stating that Tyamara was very much alive.
To put paid to the rumour, Hlazo said before the interview he had visited the singer in hospital, with plans to visit him again during the afternoon visiting hours.
Tyamara is not alone. Every month, hundreds of US-based actors and singers fall victim to celebrity deaths almost daily, all thanks to several fake news websites.
Just last year, the likes of Jaden Smith, Sylvester Stallone, Paul McCartney and Robert Redford had all “died”. Most of these celebrities were said to have died through tragic accidents, with some falling victim to unknown causes of death.
Often with these fake stories, sources close to the star or anonymous sources are quoted, no names or people’s designations.
World Wide Worx owner and Johannesburg-based technology expert Arthur Goldstuck said websites were created to publish fake news for the viewing traffic they generate, which is then monetised through advertising.
According to Goldstuck, the website’s traffic is generated by the number of visits the site receives, with those numbers charted.
These numbers are then submitted to advertising companies who, based purely on the number of visits the site receives, willingly advertise, making the website creators money.
“Most of these advertisers don’t even check where their adverts appear, they just provide them,” Goldstuck said.
“The only thing they take into consideration is how much traffic the website has. These fake news sites have been around for a while, particularly in the US, but they have been an epidemic in the last year, especially with the elections.
“The reason for this is because success builds success. Many people have seen that this is successful so more and more people are doing this as well.”
Goldstuck said most of the fake news websites were easy to spot, simply because they tend to use domain names of already existing websites and change one or two letters in the name.
Some South African fake news websites in South Africa are iMzansi, T1mesLive and African News Updates.
Note the numeral “1” in T1mesLive when the actual site has an “i” as in TimesLive.
Headlines featured on these sites this week included: “Not all condoms can prevent HIV”, “Dead Anaias Mathe seen in Pretoria” and “Caster Simenya jets off to Korea for penis transplant”. The stories are all accompanied by pictures.
“These websites may change a single letter or maybe put a number or a question mark in place of a letter in the domain name and people may not immediately notice that. They just consume the news without question.
“Another tip when it comes to fake news sites is to always verify the information they receive by doing a simple Google search just to find out if the information appears anywhere else on the internet. If not, there is a small chance that it’s not true at all. People should always do a thorough check before sharing any information they have received to avoid spreading fake news. Most of these fake news sites end up being shared on social networks,” Goldstuck advised.
In an effort to clamp down on the dissemination of fake news, social media giant Facebook has declared war on all fake news on its site.
In a press release issued by the company last month, writer Adam Mosseri said some of the strategies they are either still testing or have already adopted include: ways to make it easier for users of the social networking site to report hoax news and sites, flagging certain stories as being disputed or not often shared, and disrupting financial incentives for the creators of the fake sites.
“A few weeks ago we previewed some of the things we’re working on to address the issue of fake news and hoaxes.
“We’re committed to doing our part and today we’d like to share some updates we’re testing and starting to roll out,” the press release reads.
“We believe in giving people a voice and that we cannot become arbiters of truth ourselves, so we’re approaching this problem carefully. We’ve focused our efforts on the worst of the worst, on the clear hoaxes spread by spammers for their own gain and on engaging both our community and third party organisations.
“The four areas are just some of the first steps we’re taking to improve the experience for people on Facebook.
“We’ll learn from these tests, and iterate and extend them over time.”
Despite their assurances, Goldstuck said social networks will have to become stricter to put a final end to this pandemic.
He said: “These social networks are so strict when it comes to other things such as nudity, but then they lack filters to keep sites like this from appearing in people’s timelines. They have to develop better filters than what they currently have.”
On a more positive note, the head of digital at Tiso Blackstar Group, Lisa MacLeod, said the spread of fake news sites could result in a positive uptick in the fortunes of legacy media houses which run full teams of seasoned, and expensive, journalists.
“While there has always been a backlash against paying for news online, fake news – and particularly the circumstances surrounding Donald Trump’s election – have inspired readers to beat a retreat to quality. This is good news for us,” MacLeod said.
“Quality publications like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Financial Times all reported record traffic numbers and record sign-ups to their online subscription sites during the US election.
“In some cases the sign-ups have been hundreds of percent higher than previously. There is a good reason for this: readers want to know that what they are consuming is verified and fact-checked, and not written by a teenager in Macedonia, as was the case with much of the news flowing during the election.
“The same reasoning applies to the South African market where we have been flooded with fake news sites and stories at a time of significant political instability.” — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
Not all fact – believe it or not
While the gospel star was fighting for his life in hospital last month – where he had been admitted for abdominal tuberculosis, chest pains and liver problems – fake internet news website Mzansi Guardian declared him dead.
This news quickly spread throughout the country, with shocked fans sharing the story on social networking sites.
It soon went viral.
After seeking clarity from his manager, Daily Dispatch sister publication TimesLive earlier this month released a story putting paid to these stories.
In the TimesLive story Tyamara’s manager, Anele Hlazo, rubbished the claims of the singer’s death, vehemently stating that Tyamara was very much alive.
To put paid to the rumour, Hlazo said before the interview he had visited the singer in hospital, with plans to visit him again during the afternoon visiting hours.
Tyamara is not alone. Every month, hundreds of US-based actors and singers fall victim to celebrity deaths almost daily, all thanks to several fake news websites.
Just last year, the likes of Jaden Smith, Sylvester Stallone, Paul McCartney and Robert Redford had all “died”. Most of these celebrities were said to have died through tragic accidents, with some falling victim to unknown causes of death.
Often with these fake stories, sources close to the star or anonymous sources are quoted, no names or people’s designations.
World Wide Worx owner and Johannesburg-based technology expert Arthur Goldstuck said websites were created to publish fake news for the viewing traffic they generate, which is then monetised through advertising.
According to Goldstuck, the website’s traffic is generated by the number of visits the site receives, with those numbers charted.
These numbers are then submitted to advertising companies who, based purely on the number of visits the site receives, willingly advertise, making the website creators money.
“Most of these advertisers don’t even check where their adverts appear, they just provide them,” Goldstuck said.
“The only thing they take into consideration is how much traffic the website has. These fake news sites have been around for a while, particularly in the US, but they have been an epidemic in the last year, especially with the elections.
“The reason for this is because success builds success. Many people have seen that this is successful so more and more people are doing this as well.”
Goldstuck said most of the fake news websites were easy to spot, simply because they tend to use domain names of already existing websites and change one or two letters in the name.
Some South African fake news websites in South Africa are iMzansi, T1mesLive and African News Updates.
Note the numeral “1” in T1mesLive when the actual site has an “i” as in TimesLive.
Headlines featured on these sites this week included: “Not all condoms can prevent HIV”, “Dead Anaias Mathe seen in Pretoria” and “Caster Simenya jets off to Korea for penis transplant”. The stories are all accompanied by pictures.
“These websites may change a single letter or maybe put a number or a question mark in place of a letter in the domain name and people may not immediately notice that. They just consume the news without question.
“Another tip when it comes to fake news sites is to always verify the information they receive by doing a simple Google search just to find out if the information appears anywhere else on the internet. If not, there is a small chance that it’s not true at all. People should always do a thorough check before sharing any information they have received to avoid spreading fake news. Most of these fake news sites end up being shared on social networks,” Goldstuck advised.
In an effort to clamp down on the dissemination of fake news, social media giant Facebook has declared war on all fake news on its site.
In a press release issued by the company last month, writer Adam Mosseri said some of the strategies they are either still testing or have already adopted include: ways to make it easier for users of the social networking site to report hoax news and sites, flagging certain stories as being disputed or not often shared, and disrupting financial incentives for the creators of the fake sites.
“A few weeks ago we previewed some of the things we’re working on to address the issue of fake news and hoaxes.
“We’re committed to doing our part and today we’d like to share some updates we’re testing and starting to roll out,” the press release reads.
“We believe in giving people a voice and that we cannot become arbiters of truth ourselves, so we’re approaching this problem carefully. We’ve focused our efforts on the worst of the worst, on the clear hoaxes spread by spammers for their own gain and on engaging both our community and third party organisations.
“The four areas are just some of the first steps we’re taking to improve the experience for people on Facebook.
“We’ll learn from these tests, and iterate and extend them over time.”
Despite their assurances, Goldstuck said social networks will have to become stricter to put a final end to this pandemic.
He said: “These social networks are so strict when it comes to other things such as nudity, but then they lack filters to keep sites like this from appearing in people’s timelines. They have to develop better filters than what they currently have.”
On a more positive note, the head of digital at Tiso Blackstar Group, Lisa MacLeod, said the spread of fake news sites could result in a positive uptick in the fortunes of legacy media houses which run full teams of seasoned, and expensive, journalists.
“While there has always been a backlash against paying for news online, fake news – and particularly the circumstances surrounding Donald Trump’s election – have inspired readers to beat a retreat to quality. This is good news for us,” MacLeod said.
“Quality publications like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Financial Times all reported record traffic numbers and record sign-ups to their online subscription sites during the US election.
“In some cases the sign-ups have been hundreds of percent higher than previously. There is a good reason for this: readers want to know that what they are consuming is verified and fact-checked, and not written by a teenager in Macedonia, as was the case with much of the news flowing during the election.
“The same reasoning applies to the South African market where we have been flooded with fake news sites and stories at a time of significant political instability.” — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos