Indonesia warns over ‘fake news’

Indonesia warned social media users yesterday against spreading hoaxes. A string of false stories have been circulating online since the Lion Air plane plunged into the sea off Jakarta on Monday.

“For all of us, please don’t spread photos of victims and hoaxes. Please be wise,” Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, tweeted. Sutopo highlighted a number of pictures and videos that are making the rounds. They included Facebook postings showing a photograph of a baby in a life jacket purportedly rescued from the plane’s wreckage.

One of the posts — which was shared nearly 5,000 times in the first 24 hours — gave fictional details about the apparent rescue.