Consequences of fabricated information "caught a mermaid" causing bad public opinion

That is the assertion of Mr. Pham Hong Quang, Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Quang Nam province regarding the issue of punishing "the person who made up the story of catching a mermaid".

On the afternoon of January 12, the Department of Information and Communications of Quang Nam province announced Decision No. 62/QD-XPHC on sanctioning the act of "Providing false information" in the article "Quang Nam fishermen caught a mermaid" on the electronic information page quangnamonline.com.vn.

This decision imposes an administrative fine of VND 5 million on Pham Dac Hau (born in 1988, residing in My Son village, Tam Anh Nam commune, Nui Thanh district, Quang Nam province). The basis for the fine is the provision in Point d, Clause 1, Article 64 of Decree 174/2013/ND-CP dated November 13, 2013 of the Government regulating administrative sanctions in the fields of post, telecommunications, information technology and radio frequencies.

Speaking to Infonet reporter, Mr. Pham Hong Quang, Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Quang Nam province said: "The posting of false information above has created negative public opinion on this issue. Mr. Hau himself has clearly recognized this violation and voluntarily removed the entire website quangnamonline.com.vn".

The image is said to have been used to fabricate the "catch the mermaid" story.

Previously, the press reported that the website quangnamonline.com.vn reported: "According to Mr. Tran Nhat Dung - the person who directly caught the mermaid: After catching the mermaid, people took her to Minh Thien Hospital to get an IV and ensure her health while waiting for American scientists to come and do research. Some Vietnamese experts are approaching to protect the mermaid's health. It is known that a Japanese tycoon offered 1 million USD to buy this mermaid, but Mr. Dung refused."

To prove the information, the above article also attached some photos of the girl lying in the net... with a fish tail. The incident quickly caused a stir in public opinion. Many social media users shared and commented, making the story even more noisy.

In fact, it is a wedding photo album of a young couple.

According to infonet