Cracks are appearing in the case against the Twitter users in Mexico accused of terrorism for spreading rumors of an attack.
Local reports and claims suggest that the "panic" that spread over rumors of child abductions at school campuses started at least two hours before the online messages that could put a man and woman behind bars for 30 years.
The state of Veracruz in Mexico wants to change its penal code to apply a lower charge against the jailed Twitter and Facebook users accused of terrorism for spreading unconfirmed rumors of an attack on local schools (link in Spanish).
A proposed change in Veracruz's laws would permit the government to punish the two social-networking users now behind bars, but for a lesser offense of "disruption of public order," rather than the original charges of terrorism and sabotage. Those charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years.
Social media users who denounce drug cartel activities along the Mexican border received a brutal warning this week: Two mangled bodies hanging like cuts of meat from a pedestrian bridge.
nstant messenger applications remain the most commonly used social media in Mexico, in part due to the easy portability of the software, according to Andy Atkins-Krüger's recent WebCertain Search and Social Report 2010.
Twitter and Facebook are gaining in popularity, however, with about 50 percent of online users are now active on Facebook as well.
Internet access is limited to just over 25 percent of the Mexican population, so the potential for growth in this largely untapped market makes it a popular target for newer social media sites.
Xalapa.- En Veracruz se modificará el Código Penal y la perturbación del orden público será un delito menor, por lo que Gilberto Martínez Vera y María de Jesús Bravo Pagola, acusados de terrorismo por infundir miedo, temor y zozobra el pasado 25 de agosto a través de mentiras en las redes sociales, podrían salir bajo fianza de inmediato, aseguró el Secretario de Gobierno Gerardo Buganza Salmerón.
En conferencia de prensa, dijo que el gobernador Javier Duarte de Ochoa envió al Congreso del Estado una iniciativa de ley para incluir un artículo en el Código Penal y castigar la perturbación del orden público con una sanción menor a la de "terrorismo", consignada en el artículo 311.
Maria de Jesus Bravo Pagola, a well-known 57-year-old Mexican journalist and radio commentator, is currently sitting in a Coatepec jail along with 47-year-old math teacher Gilberto Martinez Vera. Their alleged crime? Tweeting incorrect information about potential August 25 school terrorist attacks in the Veracruz area that authorities claim were the trigger for mass hysteria and several dozen car accidents.