Criminal use of social media must be discouraged

First it was Hollywood star Eddie Murphy reported dead for the umpteenth time last month. And even before the dust settled on the elaborate hoax in social media, singer 50 Cent was also “killed off” while comedian Bill Cosby was “eliminated for the fifth time in his life this week.

Last week was singer and socialite Christina Aguilera the target, and two nights ago, Brazilian football league superstar Ronaldinho Gaucho was placed in a fatal car crash!

Some will marvel at the power of new media and the so-called blogosphere. Others shudder that the Internet is the new frontier and cosmic wave that has reduced the world from the once-touted “global village” into a small cramped room, so to speak.

As mainstream media fidgets at the expanded reach of this versatile intruder and kick their  shins, unbridled Internet  access has revolutionised shopping, rocked relationships, simplified commerce and sadly, hastened moral decadence, pornography, and paedophilia with grave consequences to the family unit, national security, religious extremism and other negative -isms.

The rapid pace the new hand-held technology is taking over our lives is unprecedented. With so many positive uses and applications, also come many negative aspects.

Kenyans have gladly embraced this media and statistics fom the  Communications Commission of Kenya’s June 2011/2012 Sector Statistics Report say mobile phone subscription in Kenya stands at 29.2 million as at the end of March 2012.

This does not include the number of available desktop and laptop computers.

Cloak of anonymity

However, there has been a corresponding increase in hate speech bolstered by the cloak of anonymity the Internet affords. This is worrying as Kenyans approach a landmark general election in April next year.

Misuse of such media is in the process of being criminalised so that we avoid Web postings like the ones targeting the various celebrities we mentioned earlier.

Hate mail propagated in the run-up to the 2007 polls and the bloody aftermath is something that will interrogate how Kenyans use social media. Use the Internet wisely.