More Governments Granting Themselves Extra Censorship Powers With 'Fake News' Laws

Free Speech

from the silence,-peasants! dept

Fake news is apparently everywhere. All over Europe, legislators and officials are trying to regulate content with “fake news” legislation and directives, as though the term could somehow be narrowly-defined enough that regulation could even have a positive effect. All these new laws and demands for cooperation from tech companies are sure to generate plenty of negative effects, not the least of which is these laws will become tools for censorship and a super-easy way to silence dissent.

It’s not just a European thing. It’s happening in nations around the world. Countries already known for heavy-handed control of the internet are using “fake news” to seize even more control of news outlets and communications platforms. Countries generally viewed as more generous with their rights are lining themselves up for authoritarian mission creep by setting themselves up as the final arbiter of real/fake news.

The EFF is reporting similar efforts are underway in Latin and South America.

In 2018, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica, among others, will undergo electoral processes involving their respective presidencies. These governments are beginning to exploit concerns over “fake news,” as though it were a novel phenomenon, in order to adopt proposals to increase state control over online communications and expand censorship and Internet surveillance. Such rhetoric glosses over the fact that propaganda from traditional Latin American media monopolies has long been the norm in the region, and that Internet companies have played a critical role in counterbalancing this power dynamic.

These governments aren’t concerned about fake news, but they are concerned about their official narratives being countered by speech carried on platforms they can’t directly control. Fake news legislation is an easy way to grant themselves the power they need to nuke content that contradicts government portrayals of events, incidents, and lawmaking efforts.

Brazil’s take on regulating fake news is one of the worst. It not only turns the production or sharing of government-designated “fake news” into a crime, but also allows the government to directly target internet companies for content posted by their users. But efforts by other countries are equally awful.

After fraud accusations marred 2017 Honduras’ presidential elections, Honduras finds itself in a grave political crisis. Amidst the turbulence, a bill regulating online speech was introduced in the Honduran National Congress in February 2018. The bill, which was widely criticized by civil society, provides broad leeway for Internet companies to block Internet content in the name of protecting users from hate speech, discrimination, or insults. The bill compels companies to take down third-party content within 24 hours in order not to be fined or even find their services blocked.

So, “fake news” remains nothing more than a dodge. And a particularly handy one, at that. Evidence of foreign meddling in domestic elections is troubling, but the answer isn’t to hand over more direct control of communications platforms to governments. All this does is further break up the internet into hundreds of fiefdoms with different rule sets, presided over by government officials who don’t care for criticism, accountability, or transparency. The better governments will get worse and the terrible governments will become abominable. But every government that puts a law like this in place will eventually abuse it to shut down dissent, criticism, or other legitimate speech it has no business regulating.

Filed Under: censorship, fake news, free speech