#Opinion: PUBLIC ATTENTION: Is social media getting wild in South Sudan?*

 

James Gatdet Dak I-O Press Secretary 

26/3/2025

*By James Gatdet Dak*

Misinformation and disinformation about the current events in South Sudan have been so rampant on social media these days. Actually for the last few weeks or months, social media has become very wild with rumors, bad wishes and fabrications. 

While fake news or fake contents may sound sweet to many people, or look very interesting to hear and read, and to believe, they nonetheless remain as lies, or half truth, and NOT the truth or facts. 

Some people post their own imaginations. Some think they do it with a good intention to make people think about the worst that can happen and prepare for. Others do it with pure evil. They post things that they imagine to happen. This is either to give a clue to rivals about what they should do, or preempt in suspicion of the rival side, or to watch out for, and vice versa. Many people love doing this without remorse. It sometimes forces me to laugh when listening to or reading something I very well know is a white lie.

There is nothing wrong with accessing or sharing information with the public on matters of public interest (unless a classified information). In this era of the 21st century, the traditional mainstream media is no longer the only tool for dessemination of information to the public. Social media has taken over, although not reliable for the most part. It is, however, wrong to deliberately share false information, including posting misleading graphic pictures and videos to create panic. 

Sharing false information or irrelevant pictures and videos of old or from another previous event, and some of which are from other countries, is terribly misleading. 

Worse still, some people would get a video from somewhere else and make a voice-over by saying things as if the voice comes from the original video. Very misleading and causes confusion in the public!

Unfortunately, the public is consuming them as the truth or facts, because majority in the public do not have the ability or means to verify them. 

I advise that content creators, although appreciated, should stick to the truth, or factual information, so that those in the public do the correct analysis as well as record them based on facts.

I also understand that it is difficult to adhere to the traditional principle of factual information in this era where falsifying information is welcomed by many as an entertainment or an encouragement in which everyone wants to be heard as a source of publicity.

It is therefore important to verify information and ascertain it as factual first before believing it.

Just an observation.