This archive report was first published on 14 September 2019.
On September 14, 2019, a Twitter storm erupted, targeting BBC Africa journalist Ciru Muriuki, who found herself at the center of a mistaken identity controversy.
The mix-up began when some Kenyans on Twitter failed to distinguish between Ciru Muriuki and author Ciku Muiruri, who had been accused of exploiting the death of Dutch businessman Tob Cohen to promote her book.
As a result, Ciru Muriuki was bombarded with scathing comments, forcing her to take to Twitter to clear her name.
"I am not @MissCiku. I haven’t written a book. I never hosted a show named Busted. And I haven’t tweeted anything about dogs. Aki please I was just doing my juice cleanse in peace," she tweeted.
Some Twitter users, however, chose to poke fun at the situation, suggesting that Ciru Muriuki change her handle to @notTHATciku to avoid future confusion.
Others expressed concern about the level of anger and frustration displayed by some Kenyans on Twitter, suggesting that it was a sign of deeper issues that needed to be addressed.
