More than a dozen copycat websites will be shut down ahead of August 8 general election in a major clampdown on imposter sites propagating fake news.
Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) director general Francis Wangusi said plans are at an advanced stage to pull down propagandist websites mimicking official news sites.
It comes even as IEBC chief executive officer Ezra Chiloba ruled out any possible manipulation of the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS) to tilt outcome of the election.
Wangusi noted that cybercriminals are hosting fake websites simulating mainstream media houses’ in a bid to misinform the electorate ahead of the election next.
“Among the main media houses in the country right now, there is none that has not been faked…we are now trying to pull down those fake sites as quickly as possible,” he said.
It comes amid fears that fakes news is being propagated on some sites and may have influence on the presidential election’s outcome like they did in the United States election.
Speaking at a forum with editors, IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba, he urged media houses to submit their actual websites to enable the Authority separate the grain from the chaff.
“That way, when we come across those fake websites we can pull them down,” he said.
CA move marks a huge victory for the electorate who have grappling with imposter websites churning fakes news laced with election propaganda that have saturated the internet.
The latest shift would be a death-knell for popular click-bait sites, cutting off their access to the ads that make them lucrative while spreading propagandist narratives.