The scorching hot weather in the last few weeks lured a number of irresponsible netizens to spread disturbing disinformation. Do not easily believe the information circulating on social media, you should check the facts.
One of the disturbing disinformation related to the hot weather is a viral video uploaded on Facebook, showing asphalt roads emitting smoke and boiling foam. According to the claim of the video uploader, the event was due to hot weather and happened in Indonesia.
Citing the Disinformation page of the Ministry of Communications and Informatics, the fact is that the incident did not happen in Indonesia. A similar video was once uploaded by a fact check article titled "Fact Check: Video From Ecuador Fictitiously Shared As Impact Of An Active Volcano Near Mexico City" which was published on the Newsmobile.in site on May 30, 2023.
The original event in the video shows the damage to the Pedro Menéndez Gilbert Flyover Bridge located in Guayaquil City, Ecuador. The damage was not at all due to extreme hot weather, but due to a fire in a warehouse located under the bridge on April 27, 2023.
The spread of disinformation often takes advantage of the situation to fool the public. As internet and social media users, we should be critical and diligent in checking the truth of suspicious information.
In addition to the viral video of the asphalt road boiling, there is also other disinformation circulating that is still related to the hot weather, and is often repeated when the dry season arrives, namely about the ban on people leaving their homes due to heat waves. This has been confirmed by the Kominfo Disinformation report page that the information spread through chain messages on the instant messaging service is not true.