The rise of inaccurate reports, or what is more popularly known as fake news, is a growing concern to the Police Service.
Inspector Amos Sylvester, of the Cyber Crime Unit, said the widespread sharing of false information had become a challenge to the Police Service.
“It may also be a challenge to law enforcement agencies at times to definitively determine the veracity of social media postings and decide if something is real or a hoax. Law enforcement does not intend to ignore these postings, but we have a duty to respond in serious cases. The only question is how does law enforcement respond to inaccurate news,” said Inspector Sylvester during the police press briefing yesterday.
He admitted that currently there were no laws on the books to charge those found to be sharing false information on social media.
“There is no general law in terms of inaccurate information, there is no law which governs anything like that. The closest thing is the Telecommunications Act Section Seven and 68 which deals with fake communications and fake signals. That Act was created in the 60s or 70s so the penalties are very minuscule but outside of that there is no legislation which actually takes into consideration our present dilemma in dealing with fake or inaccurate news,” he said.
Sylvester also noted that sharing of false information could lead to member of the public making rash decisions, as he pointed to a case earlier this year in which a Diego Martin man was accused of raping a minor after a video, which originated in the United States, spread on social media.
The man was reportedly assaulted by residents before it proven that the video was indeed of foreign origin.
“What is clear is the general public can often react to real events in irrational and unwarranted ways, fueled by fear of the unknown and at times distrust of authority,” said the Cyber Crime Inspector.
Last week, the Police Service was prompted to respond to social message which suggested women could refuse arrest between the hours of 6 pm and 6 am. Not only did the service confirm that the “law” quoted in the message was false, but the law firm to which the message was attributed said they knew nothing about the post.
Sylvester said he could not confirm if the law firm had made any report to police about the incident, but said no complaint had reach the Cyber Crime Unit.