Veteran Nollywood actress, Rita Edochie, has raised the alarm over excessive damage being done by fake news on social media, noting that the social media has done more harm than good.
Edochie who was reacting to purported death of Osita Iheme popularly known as Pawpaw, recalled that it would be the second time such rumour will be carried and spread about the popular actor who earned national award of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) in 2011 for his contribution to the Nigerian movies and film industry.
She expressed displeasure that some fans swallowed the fake news hook line and sinker and in fact mourned Osita in the comment section of the social media post.
The thespian also recalled how such news was reported about her, and how a photo of her on a movie set was used to spread the false information.
She insisted that something needs to be done about the volume of fake news on social media relating to death of actors adding that the abuse of social media is getting out of hand.
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She wrote, “This rumour has come up before. A couple of days ago, it came up for the second time, pictures of my great son and veteran colleague, Osita Iheme, popularly known as Pawpaw trended everywhere on social media with captions that they were dead. Crazy netizens believed the fake gist and began commenting RIP on themselves.
“I have said it before, and I’m saying it again: social media has literally done more harm than good to society. It has also been a constant source of enrichment for most Nigerian youths in the country, but the abuse is getting out of hand.”
Iheme often typecast in the role of a child in various films rose to prominence after starring as Pawpaw with Chinedu Ikedieze in Aki na Ukwa in 2002.
The 42 year old actor has featured in scores of movies including Aka Gum, Local Champion, Nicodemus, Sabinus the best man and House boys for sale among numerous others.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
