It was only yesterday that the Indonesian government warned of legal consequences for spreading hoaxes about the Wuhan coronavirus, and today it has been reported that two women in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan have been arrested for doing just that, police say.
Related — IT Ministry warns of criminal prosecution for spreading hoaxes about Wuhan coronavirus
According to the East Kalimantan Police, authorities recently arrested two women, who are identified by their initials FS (39) and KR (age undisclosed). Though they don’t know each other, the two women were nabbed for sharing posts on Facebook (that’s right, neither of them actually created the posts) which contained inaccurate information that some hospitals in Balikpapan are already treating patients infected with the deadly coronavirus.
“They don’t know each other. But both shared information regarding the coronavirus,” East Kalimantan Police Cybercrimes Subdivision Head Albertus Andreana told JawaPos today.
As of today, there has not been a single confirmed infection of the Wuhan coronavirus in Indonesia.
To the police, both women said that they only wanted to warn Balikpapan citizens to remain vigilant amid the coronavirus scare and that they didn’t expect their posts to blow up like they did and land them both in jail.
Police say FS and KR are still being questioned and they have yet to be formally charged.
Under Indonesia’s controversial Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE) — a law that has often been criticized as a threat to freedom of speech — spreading misinformation to create public unrest is a crime punishable by up to six years in prison.
