Chile: False viral Whatsapp message causes havoc at gas stations

A Whatsapp message with false information about a transport strike went viral last Wednesday night causing havoc amongst Chilean drivers with long refuelling queues formed at Copec gas stations, reported BBC World.

The viral message people received warned about a transport strike affecting distribution lines of Chilean fuel retailer Copec.

“To take into consideration... A friend who´s a national supervisor for Copec plants has just warned me that from tomorrow night there will be a strike affecting all fuel plants, not only Copec, and which will cause national shortage,” said the Whatsapp message.

According to Chilean sources, the message rapidly went viral, being shared my work colleagues, friends and others. Soon after, social media users started to post pictures of queues at gas stations driven by fear of fuel shortage.

Copec, the truck drivers syndicate Sitrach and the Chilean government came out to deny there was any truth behind the false message.

“In relation to the information circulating social networks in the last hours which states there will be problems in tomorrow´s fuel supply, Copec effectively denies any truth to it”, said the statement.

Chilean fuel distributor Copec added that service stations would be operating with total normality on the 9th of July.

The truck drivers syndicate, Sitrach, who supposedly were going to be on full strike, also denied the rumours, stating that although they were unhappy with current work conditions, they had never considered a full stop of their distribution activities.

Copec S.A. is the biggest fuel distributor in Chile with more than 58% share of the market. It currently operates a network with more than 615 service stations in the country.

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