Crackdown ordered on websites spreading false Covid information

The Hellenic Police’s electronic crimes division has sent an Athens prosecutor a file containing its findings from a recent crackdown on the dissemination of false information and dangerous advice pertaining to the coronavirus.

According to reports, investigators acting on the orders of Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis discovered a plethora of posts on social media and articles on websites dismissing the government’s recommendations for containing the spread of the deadly virus. Many also downplayed the severity of the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, Covid-19.

“We will take all the necessary legal measures so that the public’s health is not being put at risk from the misinformation or conspiracy theories circulating on the internet,” Chrysochoidis said in a statement on the ministry’s website.

“The state will not allow the creation of pockets endangering public health as a result of socially irresponsible behavior,” he added.