When Mark Zuckerberg in November 2016 shared what Facebook was doing to combat fake news otherwise known as misinformation, I thought something was really going to be done about it, but it seems Facebook is still having problems dealing with the issue of FAKE NEWS.

Our goal is to connect people with the stories they find most meaningful, and we know people want accurate information. We’ve been working on this problem for a long time and we take this responsibility seriously.

The above was Zuckerberg’s words in his post dated November 19, 2016. Truth is that the issue of fake news is seriously pulling down the vision Facebook has for its billions of users.

In the early morning hours of Thursday (30th March 2017), a case of character/personality damage was posted on Facebook by an account suspected to be a FAKE Facebook account and up till now nothing has been done by Facebook to either flag that account as fake or even take down the post.

A Facebook account created in 2017 with just five (5) photos uploaded between February and March 2017 on Thursday posted a photo of a Customs officer who a supposedly owner of the account by name Kate James alleged that the customs officer slept with her with a promise to buy her a phone.

The Kate James character in the Facebook post wrote how she slept with the customs officer as well passing her friends to him after which they planned killing the officer plus an advance plans of his kidnap all because the officer promised to buy her a phone but did not fulfill his promise.

The post as at the time of writing this article has received more than 170 comments on it and it’s spreading like flames on Facebook, blogs and other media platforms.

Judging by the age of this account, one can clearly notice that the Kate James FB account is FAKE and was just created to tarnish the custom officer and this is one area I feel Facebook has failed. It’s so disappointing to know that people can easily create an account on Facebook and use it to tarnish people’s reputation online without any form of check from Facebook.

Surprisingly, a Facebook user by name Dan McCain had reported this post to Facebook but got a heartbreaking reply:

I have reported this several times and gotten a response that it doesn’t go against community policy. To steal pictures and make a wild post damaging the persons reputation isn’t against community policy? By refusing to take this down you are making yourself liable to a cyber bullying and identity theft case, said Dan McCain.

To be sure I am not the only one noticing this scandal, I took to Facebook to find out what people were saying in comment and also to check if the Kate James was actually active and replying to the comments (which by the way should have been the right thing to do) but there was no sign of her reply in all of the comments. The smart ones among those that commented didn’t find it hard flagging the post as FAKE, SCANDAL and MISINFORMING.

Here are few comments I pulled from the post on Facebook:

Ehiabhilyson Praise Jude And you people believe this? You actually think this page is real? Those pics real?
Nigerians are so predictable!

Do you know how many Abdullai Mohammed we have in Nigeria? Was the man tagged? To what end is this post? To disgrace the man or to disgrace herself?

And you people are wasting emotions on one mumu mischievous foggy character behind a smart phone whose motive you don’t know. Make una continu.

Ichie Mazi Ndubuisi Obi Even after reading that kidnap lines you didn’t realize this whole thing is fake? Sorry is your name!

Nneka Ozoemena Onyekaonwu Fake page. You’re not Kate anything. This is not your real pic.

Francine Isijola Fbi This is just too fake,this page was just opened last month.

Ella G Onyegbuna U have a point…may be the girl that owns this picture might not even know what’s going on.

Precious Ekeshili Thank you o… Tell them… Do they know if they hacked her system?

Francine Isijola Fbi Yes, because she can’t be this foolish to disgrace herself like this.

Ichie Mazi Ndubuisi Obi Yes.. Nigerians are so cheap and stupid at times.. You went and spent 4 years in school, graduated and someone will just write one nonsense and you believe it at once.. Pity!

Amara Anyaoha If you believe this, you will believe anything.

Igwilo Chuka Fake girl..fake story..

Dan McCain This is a fake profile. I know the real person. Facebook will remove this profile soon

Dan McCain To the person perpetrating this: Posting this kind of lies has real consequences. Your ip can be tracked. Dss is very efficient in these cases

Rachel Lami Togan Truly fake. Identity theft is real.

Rachel Lami Togan This is a fake account and it is a crime to use someone else’s identity to perpetrate such acts.

Lucy Udie I cant believe that this pretty girl wil put this up this disgraceful act on facebook no way!!! She is being blackmailed by no other than jealous friends who are trying to spoil her image. This is just to bad

Ichie Mazi Ndubuisi Obi You are so right darling.. This is cheap blackmail

Amarachi Udoezika This is a big lie…fake profile, I know the real person. Your IP will be traced
Mfonabasi Freeman AS A PSYCHOLOGIST,THIS SHIT IS TOTALLY FAKE. THESE ARE THE INVESTIGATIONS.1. THE FACEBOOK ACCOUNT WAS CREATED IN 2017.2. MOST OF THE ACTIVITIES THERE ON HER TIMELINE IS ABOUT ADVERT FOR PONZI SITE.3. THE CLAIMED PERSON HAS NEVER RESPONDED TO ANY COMMENT ON HER FB.4. ALL HER PHOTOS ARE ADDED FROM FEB TO MARCH.CONCLUSION; FACEBOOK IS GETTING TOO RISKY AS ANYBODY CAN HAVE FB ACCOUNT WITH YOUR NAMES AND PHOTOS JUST TO TARNISH YOUR IMAGE. EVERY BULLSHIT WRITTEN THERE IS FAKE. A REASONABLE HUMAN BEING WILL NOT DISCLOSE HER ILL PLAN AGAINST SOMEONE’S LIFE KNOWING FULLY WELL SHE CAN BE ARRESTED. AGAIN,SHE WOULD HAVE RUN TO EDIT OR DELETE THE POST AFTER SEEING A COMMENTS FROM AUDIENCE ABOUT DSS TARGET. THE BULSHIT IS FAKE.

Peace Kenneth Sum pple no even get sense,which woman go bodly post dis nonsense online…hacked profile

Eni Victor Oi-ses if it’s true that her account was hacked or cloned, then we should be reporting this to FB ASAP so it is taken down!

Emelike Prince Fool, DSS and police will soon come for u, u are planning kidnap and even to kill him..that means u know kidnappers and criminals, and patronizing them. No wonder, you and your friends have been giving information to criminal about wealthy men. Are you not the one who is useless? sleeping with men and passing him round your friends for cheap benefits and shamelessly ranting in public.

Chinwe Gloria Onuogu-Ochiogu Come to think about it, u mentioned u had intention of kidnapping or killing someone, watch out for DSS and police. U’re so crazy and immature. No allow me vex ooo.

I can go ahead to pull up more comments on this post from Facebook, but what matters at this point is for Facebook to take the issue of fake news serious because news like this can spread within seconds and the damage they cause in most cases are not easily reversed. I am sure DSS and Police will surely look into this matter because the #kidnapping and #killing keywords used in this post are life threatening.

While there are speculations that the account may have been hacked or cloned what really matters right now is for the real owner of the picture on that account, to quickly go public and prove her innocence so as to exonerate herself from this mess before it’s too late.

Source: https://citytimes.ng/2017/04/01/crime-watch/fake-news-port-harcourt-girl-and-customs-officer-scandal-facebook-no-longer-safe-579.html