The News of the Moroccan Monarch’s Death: Between Denial and Confirmation
Social media platforms have been flooded with posts claiming the death of Morocco’s King Mohammed VI. The news spread like wildfire across the country, with Facebook estimating that the king’s name was mentioned 77,000 times within three hours, according to online users. The circulating posts included texts and stickers attributed to the Moroccan newspaper Hespress, suggesting that the outlet had announced the king’s death, citing the Royal Court.
In response, Hespress issued a statement on Saturday evening, denying any publication of such news. The newspaper accused what it described as “hostile entities” of spreading a false report targeting a constitutional institution in the country. The statement read:
“The series of falsely implicating Hespress in spreading baseless fake news continues across social media, exploiting the visual identity of our newspaper.”
Despite Hespress’s denial, social media users continued to circulate claims that the newspaper had indeed published the news of the king’s death but removed it after five minutes. Moroccan journalist Karim Kandouli commented:
“It is inconceivable that the largest media platform in Morocco, which I have relied on as a primary news source for a long time, would make such a grave mistake.”
He emphasized that reporting deaths should not be a race for exclusivity, adding that he personally prefers to be the last to announce King Mohammed VI’s passing. Several Moroccan pages also insisted that Hespress had published and then deleted the news, raising numerous questions—most notably, whether the report was accurate but was taken down to allow for necessary royal arrangements before an official announcement.
