Turkey says it has detained 402 people in the past 42 days for allegedly sharing “false and provocative” social media postings concerning the coronavirus outbreak, The Associated Press reported.

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An Interior Ministry statement said Monday that officials have inspected over 6,000 social media accounts and that the 402 suspects were among a total of 855 account-holders sought by authorities for sharing posts deemed to be “provocative.” A ministry official said the social media users were detained for allegedly attempting to “cause panic” over the coronavirus pandemic with posts that among other things, accuse the government of not taking sufficient measures to curb the outbreak or of lying about the death or infection tolls.

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H/T Panorama