Text message hoax spreads radiation fears across Asia

Posted By Joshua Keating Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 1:52 PM Share

The apparently fake "God Is So Good" YouTube video celebrating the Japanese earthquake was tasteless enough. But it's nothing compared to the hoax text messages spreading panic accross Asia: 

The hoax text messages and emails, warning people to shelter from dangerous radioactive material, were reported to have spread as far afield as India.

Thought to have originated in the Philippines and purporting to be a BBC newsflash, the messages urge people to stay inside and swab their thyroid glands with iodine solution to guard against radiation sickness.[...]

South Korean authorities urged calm after bogus alerts swept the country's social media networks and vowed to track down and punish those responsible under social unrest laws allowing a maximum one-year prison sentence.

Manila also threatened tough action over the hoax texts, which prompted some panicked schools to shut their doors, despite being about 2,800 kilometres (1,700 miles) away from the Fukushima plant.

Seems like a pretty horrific way to get your lulz. 

In a move that seems guaranteed to increase, rather than decrease, public alarm, the Chinese government has also added "nuclear leak" to the list of search terms banned on the popular Sina microblogging site. 

 

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