Gov’t Worldwide Cracking Down on ‘Fake News’, Writing and Even Sharing Now Leads to JAIL

 As governments across the world attempt to fight back against “fake  news,” Malaysia has set a troubling precedent by banning news stories it  deems to be “fake” with a new law that imposes a penalty of up to 6  years in prison for violators. Under the new bill, titled Anti-Fake News 2018, “news, information, data, and reports which is or are wholly or partly false”  are now illegal. 

The penalties do not only apply to the news  organizations and websites where these stories originated, but they will  also be extended to the average person who might share a story on  social media without knowing whether or not it is true. 

Initially, the government wanted to impose a 10-year penalty for  those who are found guilty of these laws but were met with a massive  public outcry, so they slightly lowered the maximum sentence to 6 years. Malaysia’s communications and multimedia minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Salleh Said Keruak said in a recent statement that this law was necessary in order to save democracy: 

“Over the past few days, since the Government’s  Anti-Fake News Bill 2018 was introduced to Malaysia’s parliament, it has  attracted a lot of attention and commentary. We welcome discussion, and  after listening to a wide array of voices, the Government has made  changes to the Bill, including reducing the maximum sentence for  convictions under this law to six years in prison.”

“So it is clear that this Government will act when it is  necessary to protect the security and freedoms of the people and our  democratic process. And there can be no doubt that this fake news law is  necessary,” he added. Ironically, Salleh Said Keruak claimed that this strong measure of  censorship still allows for citizens to exercise their freedom of  speech. 

“The definition of fake news in the Bill is clear and specific;  freedom of speech as provided for under the Federal Constitution will  not be curtailed; and the Government will not itself decide what is fake  news, but instead will allow a neutral party, namely the Courts, to  decide via independent legal process. As we have seen since a former  leader stepped down and judicial independence was recovered, Court  decisions now frequently go against the Government and senior  ministers,” Salleh Said Keruak said. 

The ban comes at the onset of an important general election for the  country, and as Salleh Said Keruak pointed out in his lengthy statement,  Malaysia is not alone in implementing censorship measures to fight what  they consider to be “fake news.” 

Various neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore  and the Philippines, are introducing similar laws. 

Meanwhile, some  European countries already have these types of laws on the books. Last year in Germany, legislation was passed  that legally forces publishers to delete whatever the state deems to be  hate speech or misinformation. 

Earlier this year, French President  Emmanuel Macron called for emergency legal action to crack down on “fake news” during elections. 

In America, the censorship measures are more subtle, with the  government putting pressure on companies like Facebook or YouTube to  throttle and shadow-ban accounts that make controversial posts. Even without the draconian prison penalties, the basic outcome of media censorship is the same: creating uniformity of thought. 

These governments say that they are protecting their citizens from  misinformation, but what they are really doing is protecting themselves  from competition. As many of these politicians have pointed out, the sea  of information available to us on the internet has fundamentally  changed the way that governments operate and it has stifled their  ability to keep the masses of society bound to a particular worldview. 

Now there are millions of different places where people can get their  information, each of them offering different viewpoints—some  well-researched and legitimate, some downright false, and most somewhere  in between. 

This has created a situation where people are far less  trusting of both politicians and the media, which — contrary to what the  state claims — is a very positive thing. However, now we are seeing  that politicians around the world are attempting to regain control of  the narrative by placing themselves in a position to be arbiters of  truth. 

According to a 2017 report  by the independent research group Freedom House, press freedom in the  United States and across the world is at its lowest point in 13 years.  The report found that there were “unprecedented threats to  journalists and media outlets in major democracies and new moves by  authoritarian states to control the media, including beyond their  borders.” 

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:

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Alchemy of the Timeless RenaissanceThe Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality, Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion and Manifesto of the Free HumansMy name is John Vibes and I am an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. I write for numerous alternative media websites, including The Free Thought Project @tftproject and The Mind Unleashed. In addition to my first book, , I have also co-authored three books with Derrick Broze @dbroze :

I just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through my experience, if you wish to contribute to my medical bills, consider subscribing to my podcast on Patreon. 

I wrote this @ http://thefreethoughtproject.com/governments-worldwide-seek-ban-fake-news-country-threatens-prison/