Ming Chuan University Department of Criminal Justice

Teacher Wang, Po-Chi was interviewed by the Taiwan FactCheck Center	2024/3/7

[Clarification of the Facts] There is a rumor on the Internet, "Be careful on the Southern Line. MRT security said that someone recently wanted to imitate Zheng Jie and kill someone, so they should bring self-defense weapons." [Fact Clarification] Internet biography "Take note of the southern line of Banban. The MRT security guard said that recently someone wanted to follow Zheng Jie's example and take self-defense weapons"? check What is the original status of the checkpoint and network transmission message? Security said someone imitated Zheng Jie? The online message was originally posted by a netizen on Threads on March 6th, but now he has deleted the post. Later, the netizen also posted a post to clarify that the original intention was not to cause panic, but to remind everyone. The netizen also explained that Baoquan did remind him to pay attention to safety, not to spread rumors and cause panic. The netizen has apologized for using too strong and biased words to cause panic. The Audit Center interviewed Banqiao Branch of New Taipei City on the morning of March 7th. Banqiao Branch pointed out that it was confirmed that a security supervisor surnamed He at Banqiao MRT Station reminded students practicing dancing to pay attention to safety at the dance area of Banqiao MRT Station around 8 pm on March 5. When the security guard reminded the students to pay attention to safety, he also showed a LINE message that the MRT police received from Taoyuan Luzhu Branch, which roughly pointed out that "a college student in New Taipei threatened on the social platform and would go to Bannan Line to kill people at random". However, it was confirmed by the police that the content of the text sent by the college student was due to emotional instability. After the inquiry, it was confirmed that the college student was expressing his emotions at the moment and was transferred to the district prosecutor's office for the crime of intimidating the public. The police pointed out that the security supervisor surnamed He reminded students dancing in public space in good faith and reminded security colleagues to be vigilant when on duty. He did not specifically ask colleagues to preach to passengers, nor did he intend to spread rumors. However, it may be that the expression is not comprehensive, which leads to the misunderstanding of the reminded people, and finally evolves into a thriller post circulated on the social platform, causing subsequent misunderstandings and panic. The police pointed out that at present, netizens' messages have been responded to on the Internet. At present, patrols will be strengthened for the southern lines of the MRT, such as Banqiao Station, Jiangzicui Station and Fuzhong Station, to ensure the safety of citizens. The police also called on the public to remain calm about online information. What should the public think of the unconfirmed message of "crime prevention" in the community? The audit center interviewed Wang, Po-Chi, an associate professor of the Department of Criminal Justice of Ming Chuan University. According to his observation, Threads, a social platform, spread the message very quickly, and the content of the message involved Zheng Jie, random killings, etc., and it was widely spread in just one night. Wang, Po-Chi said that although this post is a kind reminder, this kind of crime reminder message, if it is spread without verification, will easily cause unnecessary psychological panic, and may also trigger a crime imitation effect, or stimulate some excessive accusations and suspicion of witch hunting among specific ethnic groups in society. Remind the public that when releasing similar information, they should be careful to verify it. If people find this kind of information on social platforms, they should first confirm it with the MRT and the police, or search online for relevant reports. conclusion [The report will be updated from time to time in the 2024/3/7 edition] Recently, the social platform Threads and Facebook circulated the message that "someone on the Bannan Line wants to imitate Zheng Jie's random killing" to remind people to pay attention to safety, which subsequently triggered panic among the people. The verification is as follows: 1. This message was posted on Threads by a netizen on March 6th, but it has been deleted. And it subsequently issued a document clarifying that the original intention was only to remind the public, not to cause panic, and to apologize for the strong and biased wording. Second, the police of Banqiao Branch of New Taipei City also confirmed that a security guard at Banqiao MRT Station reminded students dancing in the station space to pay attention to safety on the evening of March 5, and showed a working group message on LINE "A college student threatened to kill people randomly on the social platform" to kindly remind students to pay attention to safety. Third, the college student who posted on the social platform a few days ago was only expressing his emotions for a while. On March 4, he was transferred to the district inspection by the police for threatening the public. The police pointed out that the security guard is only a goodwill reminder, not a rumor, but it may not be fully expressed, causing subsequent misunderstandings and exaggerations. At present, the police have also stepped up patrols at the Bannan Line MRT station, and called on the people to calm down and pay attention to safety at any time. 4. Crime prevention experts remind that unconfirmed "crime warning" messages circulating on the Internet should be confirmed and verified first. If they are not verified, the spread of information will cause panic, and may even lead to the imitation effect of crime or the social atmosphere of witch hunting, which will have negative effects. To sum up, a security guard at Banqiao Station of MRT did remind college students to pay attention to safety on the evening of March 5, and showed a message related to the public security incident of online speech that had been handled by the police. However, due to incomplete expression, social misunderstanding and panic caused by network rendering need to be further clarified.

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