BANDUNG: Malaysian influencers Ammar Mohd Nazhan and Aras came forward on Friday (Feb 7) to apologise over the production of social media content claiming a friend had "disappeared" in a forest in Kota Bandung, Indonesia, recently, Sinar Harian reports.
The Malay language daily said that in a statement reported by Indonesian news outlet KumparanNews, the influencers had also expressed regret for having caused discomfort to many parties.
"We would like to apologise for what happened and we promise not to repeat it," they said via a video received by KumparanNews.
Meanwhile, they also wrote a letter to the Indonesian police with their apology and admitted that the content they produced was purely an act.
Previously, Panyileukan police chief Comm Kurnia had said that, based on the statement to the police, the involved influencers had made a live broadcast on Bukit Embah Garut RT 05, RW 09, Cisurupan Village, Cibiru District, Kota Bandung last Sunday via TikTok with the sensational story "Malaysian influencer (girl) missing for 48 hours while producing content about paranormal activities".
"The sensational content was created solely to increase the number of views and followers. They were not aware that Indonesian law imposes strict penalties for the spread of fake news.
"The content they created also did not get permission from the authorities, even though it had been approved by the local regional manager," he said as reported by the portal.
