The family of a 14-year-old girl who posted “fake news” about Covid-19 casualties at her school and was later made to make an apology video revealing the truth has denied VICE News reports that she dropped out of school because of the incident.
The girl’s mother, Neang Sophoan, said her daughter did not drop out of school.
The June 25 VICE News report said the young student named Mey felt ashamed and was unable to continue her studies as a result of the ordeal.
VICE News also linked the story to the detention of several former opposition activists, claiming that the government was restricting freedom while using Covid-19 as an excuse.
Sophoan told The Post that the reason her daughter is not attending school is that schools around the country are closed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Therefore, VICE News’ claim is not true, she said.
“My daughter is still studying, but the school is suspended. [This incident] is not a problem for my family. My daughter said it, but her friends shared the news. She [daughter] didn’t know [about sharing]. They didn’t know that it’s not right to post unverified news,” Sophoan said.
Mey sent a voice message to a chat group with her classmates in March, saying: “I want to ask all the people of Kampot to please wear your masks properly. Three people have died here already. So everyone needs to protect themselves.”
After posting the message, one of her friends in the chat group shared it publicly, surprising social media users.
Upon receiving the information, Kampong Trach district police who verified that the claims were untrue, immediately went to Mey’s school and educated her.
Provincial Department of Education head Tak Hav told The Post on Monday that when a student breaks the rules, there are always repercussions. The case seriously affected national security, especially during the Covid-19 outbreak, and filming a public apology was the most appropriate course of action, he said.
Hav told The Post that Mey was not negatively impacted by being told to issue a public apology. He said she was only instructed to tell the truth in her own words.
He confirmed that Mey couldn’t have dropped out of school because schools had been closed nationwide since March.
In her videotaped apology, Mey explained that her statements were not true.
“I apologise to my two teachers for saying that in Hua Chheav school, there were three deaths from Covid-19. Actually, no such cases have happened in our school. This information is not true. I heard it from other people too, Mey said in the video.
“I talked about the news, and I don’t know who spread my voice message to others. I would like to point out to all people on Facebook that this school has no coronavirus cases.”
Kampot and Kep provincial investigator at human rights organisation Licadho Ub Sovanchanthorn said he did not support the spread of fake news, which has caused social chaos. He said the authorities’ measures for this case did not badly affect human rights.
“At first, she sent a message a through a Facebook chat group saying that there was someone infected at her school, and then we investigated and found it was not true.
“The authorities did not infringe much on her rights but just wanted the girl to clearly state that the information was untrue,” Sovanchanthorn said.