Bangkok (VNA) – At least nine people have been arrested in Thailandfor spreading fake news on Facebook with posts about sacked election officialsand bogus ballots.
On March 28, Siriwat Deephor, a spokesman for the Computer Crime SuppressionDivision Police, informed that these people were arrested for sharing fake newson Facebook claiming two election commissioners had been sacked and that600,000 illegitimate ballots were mixed into the vote count.
They confessed and said they didn’t know that it was fake news, he said, addingthat they were charged under the Computer Crimes Act “for sharing or spreadingfalse information”.
The accused face up to five years in jail and a 3,100 USD fine, he said.
The general election in Thailand tookplace on March 24 with over 50 million people eligible to cast votes.
According to unofficial resultsannounced by the Election Commission on March 25, among 350 seats in the Houseof Representatives directly elected at constituencies, the Pheu Thai Party,which backs former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, won 137 seats while thepro-military Palang Pracharat, which wants Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha toremain in office, secured 97 seats.
The Bhumjaithai Party, which declaredto say neutral, won 39 seats while the Democrat Party, which said to not jointhe alliance with Pheu Thai, 33 seats; the Future Forward Party, 30 seats; andthe remaining parties, 14 seats.
The Election Commission said there weresome “human errors” in calculating ballots in some areas, and the official resultsof the election will be announced next week.-VNA
According to a new law in the Philippine, spreading fake news is considered a crime and anybody proven to spread false news can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to 3,909 USD.
Nguyen Huy Ngoc, Chief of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, has urged competent agencies to strictly handle fake social network accounts in the names of agencies and individuals to post false information.
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Illustrative image (Source: Internet) 
