Sri Lanka's ex-Prez Rajapaksa's fleeing to Maldives drives widely shared fake news on social media

Male [Maldives], July 15 (ANI): When Sri Lanka's ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives in the wake of public protest in the island nation, it resulted in widely shared fake news on social media.
With millions of people using social media in Sri Lanka, fake news is no less than a potential disaster.
#GotaGoHome has been the call by the citizens of Sri Lanka. Their voices finally being heard, with Gotabaya announcing that he will resign from his position. What felt almost like a victory for the public, quickly turned into anger when news about Gota fleeing to Maldives came in. It was reported that Gota left for Maldives early Wednesday morning, and planned on leaving for Singapore later on that same day, reported Maldives Voice.
Things escalated quickly as many news sites and channels reported the incident. Daily Mirror wrote an article that read, "Protest near Maldives President's house urging to send GR back" after receiving intel from the head of the Maldivian TV channel. This was published around 10:51 am in the morning, yesterday.
The truth is, at the time of their reporting this news, there were not any protests going on outside Maldives President's house, reported Maldives Voice.
False Reporting? A report of the news event before it actually happened on the scene. It affected social harmony - by inciting violence and hatred among the communities, swinging public opinions etc.
It is rather very suspicious that a group of prominent Twitter personalities like Ashok Swain, Max Walden and well-known news sites were quick to share the news before it actually happened, reported Maldives Voice.

No matter how you see it, Daily Mirror propagate this, let alone perform a fact check prior to publishing it. No other media houses in Maldives nor in Sri Lanka were part of this exclusive news from the future that Daily Mirror had access to, added Maldives Voice.
The protest in Maldives took place later in the afternoon around 4:15 pm. The protest was held at carnival area in Male' city.
So how did this head of the Maldivian TV channel knew exactly what was going to happen 4-5 hours from when the news got reported? And how did a credible news site like Daily Mirror publish a news just based on a tip off without checking for credibility? Its like they could predict the events from the future, said Maldives Voice.
Another question that raises in the back of the mind is that, could the article have been the catalyst for the out pour displayed by the public? Acknowledging that the event took place only after the fake news was widely shared by people in the social platform.

Nonetheless, Maldivians who were present at the time of the article getting published were quick to call this as fake news.
Ali Sulaiman, a media personnel from Maldives commented saying not to spread fake news. Shumba Gong who is a Social Activist & Founder of the Mv Newswire also tweeted calling the article as fake news.
During such a sensitive time, when both the countries are at unrest and its people anguished over the government, such unethical reporting only ignites the rage.
The country is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential supplies and is in the throes of its worst economic crisis with soaring inflation. The oil supply shortage has forced schools and government offices to close until further notice.
Reduced domestic agricultural production, a lack of foreign exchange reserves, and local currency depreciation have fuelled the shortages.
Meanwhile, Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday sworn in as the interim President after Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena accepted the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
He was appointed as the acting President by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on July 13 after the latter fled to the Maldives due to the massive protest demanding his resignation.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa submitted his resignation letter yesterday after arriving in Singapore, officially vacating the post of President. (ANI)