South Africans generated more than 500,000 search queries on SA music icon Johnny Clegg on Tuesday, after the Juluka musician succumbed to pancreatic cancer, dominating public interest on all topics on Google Search for the week.
More than 200,000 search queries were generated for “Marc Batchelor” on Monday after the former soccer star was gunned down outside his Olivedale home in Gauteng, said Google SA. Investigations into the shooting are ongoing.
The digital fad FaceApp was also among the most searched topics on the internet this week.
South Africans generated more than 100,000 search queries for “Face App” on Wednesday. The two-year-old app uses artificial intelligence to create a rendering of what users might look like in a few decades. FaceApp went viral as users posted their aged likenesses on social media in the #faceappchallenge. Privacy experts, however, warned that the app (made in Russia) may pose a threat to users’ privacy as it stores photos on its servers, said the Google SA statement.