Claim: A Twitter account claims to be a journalist from Nairobi, Kenya. The account posted consistent updates about Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif’s murder in Kenya. Pakistani social media users have been sharing the tweets as real news.
Fact: The Twitter account is fake. The user has changed their Twitter username and handle multiple times. The most recent Twitter handle is @gabrielle smith. The user removed their previous tweets and bio once came under the spotlight for being a fake account.
Fact or Fiction?
On 23 October 2022, Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif was shot dead in Kenya. Following his death, a Twitter account claiming to be a Kenyan journalist began posting updates about the murder. The user, claiming to be “Kathy Peterson” with the username @555says, which has now been changed, had the following bio: “Journalist from Nairobi, Kenya. Got masters degree from Islamabad, Pakistan. Lived in Pakistan for more than 4 years. I love Pakistan and its Army”.
No records of journalist “Kathy Peterson” from Kenya are available on search engines. Furthermore, Fact Check Pakistan posted a tweet showing that the user’s earlier profile picture was of an East African celebrity. The image can befound in this article which shows the celebrity’s name is Chelah Yegon.
The user then changed their image to that of political reporter Flora Limukii from Nairobi, Kenya, as found by Geo. A google search of “Flora Limukii” shows the image from Kathy Peterson’s profile picture. It was linked to Limukii’s Twitter account, where she has announced that she is not associated with any of the contents from Kathy Peterson’s account.
The account has also posted tweets relating to Pakistan’s internal party politics, especially the PTI.
The fake account published tweets about Pakistan’s internal politics
The following Tweet was shared excessively on social media with the claim that it is from a Kenyan journalist. Soch Fact Check was unable to ascertain the origin of the image at this time.
Viral Tweet by “Kathy Pearson” claiming that a Pakistani official is playing ‘Candy Crush’ during his visit to Kenya after Arshad Sharif”s murder
We also conducted an archive search of the username @555says on Way Back Machine and found the username associated with the handle “Sofia Kashif”. An archived tweet shows the following tweet from the user on 20 August 2022:
An old tweet found through an archiving tool shows the user’s previous handle “Sofia Kashif” and a tweet in Urdu
The user then changed their name to @gabrielle smith, with a profile picture of Nelson Mandela. While the user has deleted their previous tweets relating to Arshad Sharif’s murder, the account has the same joining date on Twitter and a simiar growth trajectory of followers and a similar political standpoint. The user has most recently changed their name to Gerber Sawyer. The change occurred within the span of writing this article.
Virality
Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis for the 7-day period since 22 October to 29 October using the following search terms:
- Kathy peterson kenya
- Pakistani official candy crush
The first search term turned up 6004 interactions across 45 posts. The second search term turned up 3167 interactions across 46 posts. The Pakistani official playing candy crush claim has been shared on Facebook here, here, here, here, here and here. Multiple platforms and pages have shared tweets from the fake Twitter account as real news from a Kenyan journalist. Some of these posts can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The Twitter account, most famously known as “Kathy Peterson” was not of a Kenyan journalist but a fake account The user changed their username and handle multiple times.