Photos of a camera-like device on the ledge of a HDB flat took social media by storm on Monday (24 Sep).
The photos surfaced just 2 weeks after the government announced it was considering a smoking ban in HDB flats. So netizens naturally assumed that the device was possibly enforcing this ban.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) has not issued an official statement addressing these speculations just yet. But a few well-informed netizens have taken it upon themselves to debunk the post as fake news.
More of that later, here’s a quick look at the viral post.
The Facebook post featuring the pictures went viral instantly, being shared more than 2,600 times in just 2 hours.
The device was linked to a NEA-labelled box, presumably its power source, which came with this warning:
GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
DO NOT TAMPER!
The post also included a screenshot of a Twitter user claiming that his brother’s friend was fined for smoking near his room window. He alleged that NEA had a photo of him doing so.
According to the user, this apparently took place in Yishun.
The viral Facebook post has since been taken down.
When probed, the Facebook user behind it said he did not want to be involved in fake news and that he had received the images from a WhatsApp group.
Even though the Facebook post was taken down, other posts re-sharing the images have spawned across social media.
Netizens in-the-know were quick to point out that the camera in the pictures monitors high-rise littering.
These cameras have reportedly been around as early as 2013.
Here’s a picture of a similar camera from last year.
Yay, another mystery solved!
Kudos to knowledgeable netizens who were able to correctly point out the fake nature of the Facebook post.
If only every Singaporean was able to differentiate truth from fake, there wouldn’t be a need for a Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods.
Putting that aside, even though these cameras are used for a different purpose, it doesn’t change the fact that they are still pointing towards HDB residences.
Would you consider this an invasion of privacy? Let us know down below.
Featured Image from Facebook.
Investigations into the incident are still ongoing.
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