Mexican authorities arrested two men for allegedly tweeting rumors about violence, according to the Associated Press (AP). The state is accusing the suspects of terrorism, Milenio reported.
The pair, which the AP did not identify, tweeted about rumored attacks on schools and banks by the feared Zeta drug cartel, prompting panic in the city of Veracruz as parents pulled their children out of school and disrupted traffic, according to Impre.com. One tweet said, "For each Zeta killed a child will die," the AP said.
If convicted, the suspects could face three to nine years in prison.
Meanwhile, the Huffington Post published Thursday an accounting of eight cases where what people tweeted got them arrested. Also, the HuffPo noted 19 instances where Facebook posts ended in arrests.
See this Knight Center Twitter feed for more information about freedom of expression issues related to social media.
