By Sheminah Nkhoma

Lilongwe, July 9, Mana: Minister of Information and Digitalization, who is also Government Spokesperson, Moses Kunkuyu has condemned continued abuse of social media by some individuals who are deliberately engaging in misinformation and disinformation aimed at injuring innocent individuals and institutions.

A press statement from the ministry signed by the minister says government has noted with concern the increasing incidences of peddling of fake news on social media which has seen unscrupulous people creating fake news, fake pages, altering publications and pages among others.

Some people have, recently, been sharing fake article purporting that the government is unhappy with Catholic Bishops for apparently not participating in the National Service of Worship to mark Malawi’s 60th Independence anniversary held on Saturday at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe,” reads the statement in part.

“Therefore government wishes to remind the public that it has the right to protect every individual and institution against deliberate and malicious attacks through false posts on social media as that such acts are unacceptable, illegal and punishable under the laws of Malawi,” reads the statement in part.

Ministry of Information and Digitalization has, therefore, called for unity of purpose and patriotism from all citizenry as the country continues to celebrate 60 years of independence.