Artists face Facebook spate

The coming of social media brought smiles on the faces of artists  as news of upcoming events was easily spread to fans.

On their part, fans, thrilled by performances, would post on their profiles how they were being entertained. Moved, one or two of their friends would change plans and go to the performance and be part of the fun.

Not anymore. There is a new trench bringing artists and fans apart on social networks. Facebook users, for one, are able to create pages, from where some are publishing false information.

Recently, one page said gospel artist Princess Chitsulo was no more. That was a little after another page claimed Kwathu actor Eric Mabedi had passed away.

Not so long ago, another gospel artist, Grace Chinga, who vehemently spoke against the rumour-mongering, fell victim to the crass. Stories were published that did not in the least amuse the Akanapanda Yehova singer.

A classic tale of social media gone beserk comes from Lucius Banda, who has fallen victim to the hate spate.

“I put one of my numbers on my latest CD. I have been having feedback from people, but one call amazed me. The caller said he got information on Facebook that those who wanted to join Satanism should contact one of the seven numbers on the page. Mine was one of the numbers and the caller wanted to know what he had to do,” said Banda.

That, he said, was one of the many times haters have used otherwise well-meaning social media.

“They have defamed us. But I don’t even care. I have learned to ignore it all. I have developed a thick skin to all this, but one thing I can say is that this is what has pushed many artists from interacting with fans on the social media,” said Banda.

Singer Maskal agrees some Malawians are abusing Facebook, which has led to some artists to shun the tool that brings together people from all corners of the world.

“It is so sad that someone you don’t know, someone you have never talked to be publishing lies about you. You wonder what they are really up to. I wish something could be done,” said Maskal.

In his view, the tug-of-war between artists and the mudslingers leaves the art arena trampled: “Art needs energy and artists spend time and energy to build an image. Now when others apply energy in the opposite direction, you only have art losing.”

Another victim of the spate is Piksy. He fought his way, until he got to the administrator of one page that claimed he was part of the Illuminati and was shot by his girlfriend.

“I traced one of the administrators. I wanted to sue them, but others told me to just let it go. It hurts for one to spread falsehoods. What do they want to gain by tarnishing our images?” wondered Piksy.

A media law lecturer at The Polytechnic George Kaliwo says offended parties can find ways to sue offenders. Publishing false information is punishable by law, he said: “If the information is in written form, that is libel and when it is through the spoken word that is slander.”

He said in such cases, author and publisher can be sued. Authors—the administrators—can be traced using IT experts. The problem, he said, is the difficulty in suing Facebook.

“I don’t know what Facebook says about liability. In the case of Google, it is clearly stated that all legal processes against them have to be filed in Utah in the United States, which would limit those in Malawi in one way or the other,” said Kaliwo.

According to him, the damages would depend on the number of visitors to the said page: “I bet it can be over K1 million, given many people can access Facebook from all corners of the world,” said Kaliwo. n

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