We hope that, by now, we no longer have to be told to verify before we share anything on social media because the consequences can be serious, as one incident in Indonesia has shown.
On Tuesday, a Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra woman shared on Facebook a video showing a building on fire in the city.
The city’s fire department was alerted to a possible fire incident because of the video and deployed six firetrucks to the location, only to find that there was no fire.
Local police then traced the video back to the woman and found that the video was actually taken in 2018.
To the police, the woman said she shared the video without verifying but was adamant that she was not the only one to make it go viral recently.
Indonesia’s Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE), which criminalizes hoax sharing, does not discriminate between the maker of a hoax and someone who merely clicked the share button.
The woman has apologized for the incident and has signed a pledge not to reoffend.
“She has apologized to all and we have sent her home,” Pematang Siantar Police Crime Investigation Unit Head Edi Sukamto said.
As for the fire of two years ago, reports said that it destroyed a dozen houses in the area. Thankfully, there were no casualties.
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