29.03.2018 - 15:41 [ Techdirt ]

UN Advisor Tells Italy To Drop Its Terrible ‚Fake News‘ Law Before It Does Any Real Damage

Italy is rolling out new laws to deal with „fake news.“ The Italian government can‘t define this term precisely, but apparently assumes it will know it when it sees it. And the rest of the country is encouraged to „see something, say something,“ thanks to the government‘s online portal which will allow brigaders and hecklers to cleanse the web of things they don‘t like. Even if some of it stays up, those reported will possibly still have to spend some time interacting with government employees, which will mostly be a waste of everyone‘s time.

And that‘s just the bureaucratic side of it. This portal will link to law enforcement so Italy‘s uniformed cyberwarriors can go harass citizens over alleged fakery the government can‘t even clearly define.