Wuhan doctor’s death shows risk of Asia’s fake news crackdown

This illustration provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January 2020 shows the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Arrests of more than 20 people across six countries show the extent to which governments are policing social media as they seek to prevent panic and further economic damage. — CDC/AP

Governments across Asia are stepping up arrests over a growing scourge of misinformation related to the coronavirus outbreak, even as outrage grows in China over how early virus whistleblowers were punished for spreading falsehoods after one of the doctors passed away.

Hong Kong police this week nabbed a part-time security guard at a shopping mall for allegedly writing on social media that multiple staff members had caught a fever and gone on sick leave. The messages "caused panic” and helped "breed paranoia”, police said in a statement on Facebook. The government separately blamed "evil” rumour mongers for fueling a run on goods at supermarkets such as toilet paper and rice.