A screenshot of a Facebook post appears to show a message from South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, addressing calls on social media to switch off power in the township of Soweto.
The post says that the company cannot cut off the power supply, as Sowetans were promised free electricity after the end of Apartheid, “and they are our people”.
However, the screenshot does not show a page from the official Eskom Facebook page – which has a different name from the one pictured – and the same text was widely shared from a parody page about the power utility.
A post on 23 March 2019 (archived here) showing the screenshot has been shared some 1500 times.
“The truth hurts that is why this post was removed. Here it is again,” it reads.
It then shows the screenshot of the supposed message from Eskom, which reads:
“There has been a rising pressure from social media asking us to switch off Soweto as most of the residents there get their electricity free. Unfortunately the matter is not that simple. After 1994, we promised them free electricity and they are our people. Without Soweto we will lose Gauteng province.”
However, it soon becomes clear that the message did not come from Eskom’s official Facebook page.
In the screenshot, the name of the page posting the message is “Eskom Electricity”.
The power utility’s official page has a different name — the rather more wordy “Eskom Hld SOC Ltd”.
How to check if an ‘official’ social media page is genuine
A Facebook search for “Eskom” returns numerous page results which all bear the company logo. The fact that the page named “Eskom Hld SOC Ltd” has 123 000 “likes” – far more than the others – is the first indication that this page is the most likely to be genuine, although this alone is not proof.
It’s sometimes difficult to know whether a social media page purporting to represent a company or organisation is genuine or not, as people often create parody accounts or replica pages designed to look like the real thing.
If you have any doubt about the veracity of a supposedly “official” social media page, it’s best to see if it’s linked to from the company or organisation’s website — as is the case with Eskom’s Facebook page.
That link on Eskom’s website redirects to the Facebook page Eskom Held SOC Ltd.
We weren’t able to find the post seen in the screenshot – it’s possible that it has been deleted.
But the same text appeared in a post by an Eskom parody page on 19 March which was shared 6400 times. “Ek’sdom” means “I’m stupid” in Afrikaans.
Also you may like…Maimane says ANC is behind recent violent protests
The Democratic Alliance says it has evidence that recent protests in DA-led municipalities were orchestrated by the ANC.
The DA held a press briefing earlier on Sunday, led by its leader Mmusi Maimane and leaders from municipalities it governs…Read more here
Source: IOL
