How Fake News Disrupted Kenya’s Election

Kenyan opposition leader and presidential candidate, Raila Odinga
Supporters of Kenyan opposition leader and presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, demonstrate blocking roads with burning tyres in the Kibera slum area in Nairobi, Kenya. Wednesday Aug. 9, 2017. Odinga says hackers infiltrated the database of the country's election commission and manipulated the results. Early results show President Uhuru Kenyatta with a wide lead over Odinga. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)
Kenyan opposition leader and presidential candidate, Raila Odinga
Supporters of Kenyan opposition leader and presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, demonstrate blocking roads with burning tyres in the Kibera slum area in Nairobi, Kenya. Wednesday Aug. 9, 2017. Odinga says hackers infiltrated the database of the country's election commission and manipulated the results. Early results show President Uhuru Kenyatta with a wide lead over Odinga. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)

How Fake News Disrupted Kenya’s Election

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With most of the votes counted in Kenya’s contentious election, President Uhuru Kenyatta is taking a lead over the opposition leader Raila Odinga. Byt Odinga rejected the results, calling them “fake” and claiming the electoral commission’s IT system had been hacked.

According to GeoPoll, 90 percent of Kenyans have seen or heard fake news around this year’s election, with 87 percent reporting instances of deliberately false or fake news. Ahead of the voting, Facebook offered a tool to spot fake news. To discuss the Kenyan election and the rise of fake news, we’re joined by Alphonce Shiundu, an editor at Africa’s first independent fact-checking organization Africa Check.