Police have charged and released, pending his appearance in court, a 35-year-old man from Paphos for publishing false news, while access to the website he used to upload the fake news story has been blocked by at least some internet service providers in Cyprus.
Under questioning, the man admitted to posting a fake news story.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said the man is facing two charges. One relates to section 50 of the penal code, “Publication of false news with intent to cause fear and alarm to the public.”
If found guilty, violators are liable to a sentence of up to two years in prison, or a fine of €2560, or both.
The other charge relates to a specific law on the deliberate transmission of false messages, where the penalty is up to a €1000 fine.
On Thursday evening, a supposed news item appeared on Facebook about the murder of a 35-year-old man in Peyia, Paphos. It turned out that the man who posted the fake story was referring to himself.
The report said the man had been just found dead in his car and that gunshots had been heard. The full name and photo of the man in question was included in the report, which said that police had cordoned off the area and had already arrested two suspects.
Having read the announcement of the man’s murder, many felt compelled to call Paphos police inquiring about the incident. Following investigations to locate the source of the report, it emerged that it came from the website channel28news.com.
The website clearly states: “Create A Fake Story And Trick All Your Friends! Simply Create Your Own News And Then Share It On Your Social Network Pages!”
However, once a news item has been generated and posted on a social network website, there is no reference to the channel28news.com website to alert people that it is a hoax.
In order to create a fake story on the website, one has to log in using their Facebook username and password.
As of yesterday, channel28news.com itself was not accessible.
According to a police source, this is not the first time use of the website has caused distress.
People, especially in the younger age bracket, have used the website to post fake stories of suicides or abductions.
