Two local women, aged 19 and 63 years old, have been presented to the police for spreading rumors related to the typhoon, according to a statement released by the Judiciary Police (PJ).
On August 27, one of them received a message on her WeChat account saying that the Macau government had completely blocked information regarding five dead people who had been found in a parking lot located in Fai Chi Kei.
After receiving the message, the woman forwarded the message to the second one, who, as she claimed, was the only person she sent the message to. The second woman then forwarded the message to other WeChat friends.
The latest case is the second of its kind to take place in Macau.
Earlier, on Monday, two local siblings, a 73-year-old man and his 68-year-old sister, were also interrogated by the police for sending the aforementioned message to other people. Their case was referred to the PJ for further investigation.
The authority noted this week that spreading fake information might violate the law, though specifics were not provided.
It called on the public not to resend information relating to Typhoon Hato without first confirming the authenticity of the facts, in order to avoid unnecessary panic and chaos.
