Mexican 'Twitter Terrorists' Face 30 Years for Panic-Inducing Tweets

Twitter is a great way of spreading information, people can tweet something within seconds of seeing it and, in minutes, thousands will see the tweet and retweet it themselves. But Twitter is just as good at spreading false information as it is at accurate one.

Most people know this and, most of the times, it's easy enough to determine if something is unreliable. Sometimes, though, it's not and, sometimes, the false information can lead to real-world problems.

This is exactly what happened in Mexico, where a couple of tweets caused somewhat of a hysteria leading to several car accidents and a lot of scared people.

It started with a tweet saying five kids had been kidnapped in a school in Veracruz. The report was quickly retweeted by others and it started spreading.

Other independent tweets seemed to confirm the kidnapping and other incidents at other schools.

Some were claiming that a helicopter opened fire, others that kids were being held hostage. The reports drove the city into a craze as parents rushed to schools.

Officials later said that some 20 car crashes resulted from the hysteria, but there doesn't seem to have been much more damage.

People didn't send their kids to school the next day and productivity dropped, but that's pretty much it.

Causing panic in a crowd didn't exactly start with Twitter and, in cases with more sever consequences, the authorities do punish those responsible.

They don't (usually) call them terrorists and threaten them with 30 years of prison though. But Gerardo Buganza, the interior secretary for Veracruz state, was more than furious about the tweets and police arrested two people who may have posted the first.

They claim they are innocent, but authorities charged them with terrorism and sabotage and they face 30 years in prison.

The exaggerated response didn't go well with the people of Mexico, who are used to authorities downplaying gang-related violence and crimes and to old school media publications staying quiet.

Many Mexican Twitter users are pledging their support and are branding themselves as TwitTerrorista (Twitter Terrorist). The local branch of Amnesty International has criticized the arrests. But authorities don't seem to be budging from their position for now. Likely, things will not end here.