There Are 6,200 Hoaxes Regarding the Turkey Earthquake, Police Arrest 78 People for Provocative Uploads on Social Media

Illustration. (Unsplash/Thom Bradley)

JAKARTA - Turkish police say they have arrested 78 people accused of creating fear and panic by sharing provocative posts about last week's earthquake on social media, adding 20 of them are being held in pre-trial detention.

The death toll in Turkey and Syria from the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake has risen above 41.000, with millions of people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Turkey's General Directorate of Security said it had identified 613 people accused of making provocative posts, and legal proceedings had been started against 293 of them.

"Of these, the chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of 78 people," the directorate said, as quoted by Reuters on February 16.

The directorate further explained that 46 websites were closed for running phishing scams, trying to steal donations for earthquake victims and 15 social media accounts pretending to be official institutions were closed.

Last week Turkey blocked access to Twitter for about 12 hours from Wednesday afternoon to early Thursday, citing the spread of disinformation, which prompted an angry response from opposition politicians and people who used the platform to find loved ones and share information about rescue efforts after earthquake.

Meanwhile, Turkey's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun tweeted on Monday that Turkey is experiencing "serious information pollution" and authorities will share daily bulletins correcting false information.

"Within a week after the earthquake, around 6,200 items of fake information and news were reported to the government," Altun said.

Last October, Turkey's parliament adopted a law under which journalists and social media users can be jailed for up to three years for spreading "disinformation", raising concerns among human rights groups and European nations about free speech, especially ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections. this summer.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party says the law is needed to tackle false accusations on social media, will not silence the opposition. The government has also blocked social media in the past.