Michael Lane Brandin knew his Facebook post would cause a stir.

What he didn't realise was that he'd be arrested, lose his job and face a trial that could see him behind bars.
It was an otherwise dull afternoon in March and the debate about how to cope with the potential outbreak of Covid-19 was all over his timeline.

So he decided to, in his words, "do a social experiment".
Mr Brandin posted that he had tested positive for coronavirus. And then he added that doctors had told him the virus was now airborne.

Mr Brandin says his point was to demonstrate that you can't always believe everything you read online.

The fake news spread like wildfire across Tyler County, in Texas, where he lived.

This was days before any lockdown had been brought in. But anxious people began to call the local hospital and ask if the news was true: how could they now protect themselves from an airborne invisible killer?

Arrest warrant
Soon the Tyler County Sheriff's Office heard what was going on. Police contacted Mr Brandin and told him to amend his post - which he did

But the rumour had snowballed on social media - and so the next Facebook post was perhaps inevitable. It came from the police themselves.

The county sheriff told Facebook followers that the 23-year-old was now facing the criminal allegation of false alarm.

"I have a bachelors of science degree in mass communications," he says. "I did it to prove how easy it is for anyone to post something online and cause panic, Mr Michael Lane Brandin later added.

"I wanted to prove that it is important for people to be educated and do their own research before assuming everything they read or hear is true.

"But because of a Facebook post, I lost my job, my health benefits. I couldn't start my master's programme on time due to not having the money.

Global 'infodemic'
The World Health Organization has said there is an online "infodemic" and the stakes are high for authorities trying to tackle false pandemic news and prevent panic.

All over the world posting misinformation about the virus could now get you arrested.

Research from BBC Monitoring shows there have been reports of arrests for spreading fake coronavirus news in India, Morocco, Thailand, Cambodia, Somalia, Ethiopia, Singapore, Botswana, Russia, South Africa - and Kenya.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52397294

Brilliant.

You definitely will face the court of law. That's a false alarm, water of public human resources, and tax payers money.

Kim Jon Hun would have killed you by now if you were to be in North Korea.

You're lucky it's not Nigeria. You for dey languish inside isolation center with by force covid-19 treatment protocol already in use here.

Research from BBC Monitoring shows there have been reports of arrests for spreading fake coronavirus news in India, Morocco, Thailand, Cambodia, Somalia, Ethiopia, Singapore, Botswana, Russia, South Africa - and Kenya.

Why is Nigeria not on this list?

[s]

Staphylococcus:
Brilliant.

You definitely will face the court of law. That's a false alarm, water of public human resources, and tax payers money.

Kim Jon Hun would have killed you by now if you were to be in North Korea.

[/s]

Nigeria they are eager to see someone have that so called disease!

Wetin concern me?

Not everything you can joke with