Proliferation of fake news

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Earaviel
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Proliferation of fake news

Post by Earaviel »

The proliferation of fake news in recent years is increasingly worrying. Previously limited to hoaxes or pranks, they now concern much more sensitive subjects such as politics or the military. It has become clear that all actors, both public and private, must take their responsibility to limit this growing phenomenon. However, I don't think that legislation is the solution.
Legislation would be at best ineffective and at worst repressive. Judging information to be false implies judging its truthfulness. False information is, in its strictest sense, a lie. To establish a law on it is, therefore, to declare lies illegal. The law should not judge the morality of an act, and it seems to me that it would be difficult to establish a coherent law in this sense. Moreover, although lying may be considered a non-moral act, it still constitutes an opinion. In this regard, restricting false information would be an attack on freedom of expression and opinion. Freedom of expression is a fundamental principle of democracies and applies in all areas, including politics. Twitter's decision to suspend the account of former US President Donald Trump can thus be seen as an attack on his freedom of expression.
False information has different levels of intensity and is not always comparable to each other. Indeed, it is difficult to lump together the photo editing of sharks in the New York underground that circulated in the US after Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, and Donald Trump's advice in the midst of a global pandemic to drink bleach to fight COVID-19. Therefore, if a law were to be established, it would have to be particularly precise on the types of false information concerned, as well as on the sanctions foreseen. As some information can be interpreted differently, the objectivity of such a law could not be guaranteed.
As fake news circulates almost exclusively on social networks, the latter could be subject to severe restrictions. However, social networks rarely originate from a single country and would therefore not be subject to the laws of any particular country. Moreover, Internet users are very keen on their independence from governments, as evidenced by the Declaration of Independence for Cyberspace published by John Perry Barlow in 1996. 

These are all reasons why I reject the idea of legislation to combat fake news. Actions taken must be taken well in advance. Young people must be made aware of this issue and tools must be developed to help them quickly identify false information.  For example, the French newspaper Le Monde has set up Decodex, a directory listing unreliable or satirical sources.
Social networks also have a role to play. While the dissemination of false information cannot be completely banned, they can punish the authors if they display a political or discriminatory aim.
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