Last week, a story claiming the Eritrean government had issued a ruling forcing men in the country to marry at least two wives was all abuzz on social media. On Facebook and Twitter memes abounded of men around the world apparently wanting to move to the country to take advantage of this new law.
There was one problem. It wasn’t true.
The story appeared to have originated from the online platform of The Standard, a Kenyan newspaper, supposedly as a satirical piece (the post has since been removed). But the ‘news’ quickly generated tremendous social media buzz. There was even a photo of the legal ruling that reports claimed came from Eritrea’s Grand Mufti issuing the edict. And soon the story went viral, picked up by multiple media outlets across the continent, including such well-followed platforms like SaharaReporters, the Nigerian-focused investigative news site.