“I think there is no Ebola in Uganda.” Those are words of Battle Kay, as he is known online – a 28-year-old who lives in the capital, Kampala, and makes social media videos criticising the actions of the government.
But he’s also part of a new wave of people making unsubstantiated claims that the current Ebola outbreak is either exaggerated or entirely made up by the authorities.
Uganda has been battling Ebola for two months now. So far, there have been 141 cases with 55 deaths – confirmed by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – out of its 44.7 million population.
Wider criticism of the government’s record has become mixed up with speculation and unfounded claims about the disease.
The key misleading messages which are spreading have been:
For example, a social media post claiming organs were being harvested with Ebola as a cover highlighted a visit in October by the UK’s Princess Anne, sister to King Charles.
It said there was no way she would have toured a country which had…
This article was written by and originally published on www.bbc.co.uk