BANGKOK, Jan 31 (TNA) – In a crackdown against fake news
related to the new coronavirus, Thai authorities have arrested two people for
allegedly producing and spreading misleading information on social media.
The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry and the Royal Thai
Police’s Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) announced on Thursday
that they identified six sources of fake news that have caused fears and
confusion among the Thai public.
DES Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta said the two suspects
that had been arrested so far after police obtained court warrants to search
several locations.
They were charged of violating Computer Crime Act, he said;
one of them for posting false report of a coronavirus death in Pattaya and the
other for posting an edited video clip of people collapsing.
Police officers were still searching for other suspects
including those who sent fake report of a death in Phuket, he said.
Between January 25 and 29, the ministry’s anti-fake news
center examined thousands of online messages and posts and dozens were found to
misleading information, Buddhipongse said in the news conference.
The DES also revealed online messages to counter fake news
being shared on social media; for examples, cover-up of patients and anti-virus
oral spray.
The Minister urged internet users to join anti-fake news
efforts by alerting the anti-fake news center or reporting to a disease control
hotline, 1422.
Launched on November 1 last year, the anti-fake news center
was aimed to detect misleading claims on social-media platforms.(TNA)
