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| Trần Thị Thu Hồng’s Facebook post. — Photo: danviet.vn |
Viet Nam News
ĐẮK NÔNG — A woman in the central province of Đắk Nông has been fined VNĐ10 million (US$430) for posting fake news about a swine disease outbreak in the area.
On Sunday, Trần Thị Thu Hồng, 29, a resident of Gia Nghĩa Town, posted on her Facebook account “Trần Thu Hồng”, that authorities had detected an outbreak in Đắk Mil District which had affected 800 pigs. Hồng said the pigs were culled and buried but then unearthed for sale.
The fake news immediately drew public concerns, forcing local authorities to investigate.
Hồng later removed her post and corrected the information, saying that she had only posted to raise the alarm among the community
On Wednesday, Quách Công Ban, chief inspector of the provincial Department of Information and Communications, said he had decided to fine Hồng.
He said Hồng’s action had incited public anxiety and badly affected the husbandry industry.
Amid the outbreak of African swine fever in the country, Hồng is not the first person to be fined for spreading fake information. Over the past month, at least three other Facebookers have been punished for the same action. One of them, a Hà Nội-based online shop, was fined VNĐ20 million ($860) for posting on its Facebook page that pork products from infected pigs were being sold in Việt Nam. — VNS
