Man Fined for Chatting With a Friend While Buying BBT; Image of Fine Suddenly Became Fake News

With us living like North Koreans now, our Facebook newsfeed has somehow morphed into an influencer’s feed; fake news seems to be flooding our newsfeed.

And it’s understandable since sensationalised and shocking contents would gain the approval of Facebook algorithm. That’s precisely the reason why you should download the Goody Feed app to read other important news, like how cats have given the middle finger to the Circuit Breaker rules.

One of the stories that’s been appearing in our newsfeed is this: an image of a fine that purported is given due to many reasons:

According to MP for the Marsiling-Yew Tee Group Representation Constituency, Alex Yam, this image has been repurposed by netizens as a fine for

• People visiting their parents
• Exercising with more than one other family members
• Caught in a car with a non-household member in a car during a Traffic Police Roadblock
• Not wearing a mask when outside the house
• A hawker eating in front of his stall

And in the words of Mr Yam, who’s not related to a certain Returning Officer, these are all “as far from the truth as the Sun is from Neptune.”

If that sounds too chim, it basically means they’re all fake news.

Instead, this fine is all about bubble tea.

Man Fined for Chatting With Friends While Buying BBT

In a Facebook post that’s as interesting to read as a Goody Feed article, MP Yam—

Reader Bao: Did you just self-praise?

I didn’t; I’m referring to articles written by my colleagues.

But anyways, MP Yam has clarified that the image is of a summons issued yesterday (12 April 2020) at Tiong Babru Plaza, and it’s a rather innocent fine.

A man had ordered his bubble tea and was waiting for his diabetes drink to be ready when he came across a friend. He innocently chatted with his friend without keeping a safe distance, and unfortunately for them, an enforcement officer spotted them and issued a fine to both of them.

Both accepted the fine; after all, let’s admit it: it’s an honest mistake, although now every mistake could determine whether we have 1 new case tomorrow or 100 new cases tomorrow.

Mr Yam then mentioned that “different permutations of stories emerged using the same picture of the summons – of officers raiding a house and issuing the summons to a daughter visiting her mother to care for her, of a boyfriend being fined for sending his girlfriend home, to a father being summoned for cycling with more than 1 daughter in a park, and for sending a friend home after tabao-ing dinner.

“This one summon is really powerful to be able to summon so many different people from different families for different offences on the same day at different times.”

He then urged people to keep a safe distance from fake news because it spreads just like a virus.

Reader Bao: I think he writes better than you guys

Sorry Ah Bao, we have no money to engage an MP to write for us.

Mr Yam then told us to check http://www.gov.sg/infobot when in doubt.

Here’s his post:

Moral of the story: you’d have to treat Facebook as an influencer’s Instagram feed from now on. Be critical and don’t believe everything you read.