HACKLEBURG, Ala. — An Alabama police chief is calling on state lawmakers to enact legislation that will curb misinformation on social media sites after a post caused chaos and confusion last week.
Hackleburg police Chief Kenny Hallmark said that a Facebook post by an area resident referenced an armed suicidal man driving around town and near an area school, WIAT reported.
Hallmark said the information about the Jan. 16 incident was false, but the post stoked fear among residents.
“People were afraid,” Hallmark told the television station. “People were unsure of what the true facts were because you get people that believe these worrisome posters, and it causes problems.”
Hallmark said there were two separate incidents that involved his department that day.
One involved assisting the Marion County Sheriff’s Office after authorities received a call about shots fired. At the same time, Hallmark said, the sheriff’s office responded to a separate call involving a suicidal person.
“Due to the nature of the incidents occurring simultaneously, our department assisted by responding to one of the calls,” Hallmark wrote in a Facebook post. “At no time was there a threat to Hackleburg School, students, staff, or the area surrounding the school. There is currently no threat in or around the town of Hackleburg.”
Hallmark said his department attempted to contact the person who posted on social media, but they were unresponsive.
“They refused to talk with us because we do understand sometimes you do get bad information, just like we get bad information, too, and you try to verify that information before you put it out,” Hallmark told WIAT. “And they wouldn’t contact us. They wouldn’t do anything to try to rectify that post to make it legit.”
Hallmark, who said local businesses and a school in the area were impacted by the social media, wants to make sure that misinformation does not go unfiltered.
“There needs to be some legislation enacted to put some teeth in, make it ex post,” he told WIAT. “Now, you can have misinformation and put that out there, and it’s OK as long as you come back and retract it and put true facts out there. Now, if you refuse to do that, there needs to be some repercussion.”
Hackleburg is located approximately 95 miles northwest of Birmingham.