“This has been hugely damaging not only to the Huffington Post South Africa brand but also to Media24. Responsible journalism is at the heart of what we do; it’s the currency we trade in. In an era of fake news‚ I know only too well that our editors spend an inordinate amount of time checking the veracity of information before they publish. When our systems fail‚ we’re not just alarmed‚ we’re outraged. This is a sad day for journalism‚” said Media24 CEO Esmaré Weideman.

The blog was authored by an individual called Shelley Garland‚ claiming to be an MA student in philosophy at the University of Cape Town.

The blog "went viral" according to a response piece by Huffington Post South Africa editor-in-chief Verashni Pillay.

Sipho Hlongwane‚ the Blogs Editor at Huffington Post SA‚ tweeted about the amount of traffic Garland's blog had received. Pillay's article and Hlongwane's tweet were both later deleted.

Huffington Post South Africa took Garland's blog down after Cape Town-based writer Laura Twiggs began questioning the authenticity of the writer.

Twiggs had discovered that Garland's online presence was thin and that she had only recently joined Twitter.

Source: Times Live