Governments across Asia are stepping up arrests over growing misinformation on the coronavirus outbreak, even as outrage grows in China over how virus whistleblowers — one of whom, a doctor, has now died — were punished for spreading falsehoods.
Hong Kong police this week nabbed a part-time security guard at a shopping mall for allegedly writing on social media that multiple staff members had caught a fever and gone on sick leave. The messages "caused panic" and helped "breed paranoia," police said on Facebook. The government also blamed "evil" rumormongers for fueling a run on goods such as toilet paper and rice.
Arrests of more than 20 people across six countries show the extent to which governments are policing social media as they seek to prevent panic and further economic damage. Authorities in Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Thailand have all joined China in cracking down on "misinformation" or "fake news" with arrests and the threat of jail time.