Social media fuels coronavirus jitters with wild rumours

On Friday, March 13 at around 11am, I received about 25 WhatsApp messages — all on the announcement regarding the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the country. Two hours later, images of panic shoppers in a local supermarket filled my timeline. The bubbling lava underneath the surface had erupted — Kenyans were officially in panic mode.

There was a meme saying that WhatsApp is the leading cause of the fast global spread of the Covid-19 virus — and I agree, even before Kenya had a confirmed case, we all knew it was coming. According to NewsWhip, a predictive media intelligence company, many of the coronavirus stories getting shared the most on social media are packaged to drive fear rather than build understanding about the illness.