A video showing a man riding a horse through the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) during the June 20th, 2024, protests in Nairobi has gone viral.
The footage has sparked widespread allegations that the man stole the horse from the anti-riot police force.
However, The Kenya Times has uncovered the truth behind these claims.
A spot check by this author has clarified that the horse is not the property of the police.
Contrary to the popular belief, the horse was not stolen from the police. The man in the video, identified a TikTok creator known as malieng0_0, was riding his horse as a content creator.
The Kenya Times Investigation
A Google reverse image search led us to a similar video published on social media with further filtering showing more videos from the same creator.
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By following this process, we are directed to the creator’s page where we noted that the video in question, along with other similar videos featuring the same outfit, were published on TikTok on June 9, 2024.
This timeline and contextual evidence confirm that the individual in the video did not steal the horse from the police.
Man Behind the Horse
Malieng0_0, whose real name has not been disclosed, is a well-known content creator on TikTok.
He regularly features his horse in his videos, which have garnered a significant following on the social media platform.
The sight of a man on horseback amid the chaos captured the public’s attention, leading to the mistaken belief that the horse belonged to the police.
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This puts to rest the claims peddled on social media and while underscoring the importance of verifying information before spreading it, especially in the fast-paced world of social media.
Fake News in Kenya
The Kenya Media Assessment 2021 survey conducted by GeoPoll Internews survey revealed that the majority of Kenyan have come across fake news.
79 per cent of the respondents said that they received questionable or fake news sometimes with a very low percentage reporting having never received fake news.
The survey further state that about 64 per cent of the respondents do not completely trust the news and information they get from the media.
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