This law doesn’t apply to just anything. It only applies to a material fact which pertains to something of federal significance, and it’s a situation where the person KNOWS they are either lying or concealing critical information.
This isn’t just a person being mistaken, or spouting off an opinion. It is lying about a matter of fact. Like saying that the Hawaii Secretary of State released Obama’s genuine birth certificate. That’s a flat-out inaccuracy; he was called on it; he refused to correct it or allow me to correct it via a letter to the editor.
Judge Robertson wanted to slap punitive fees on a lawyer because exactly that kind of crapola Twittering and media lies supposedly legally decided the eligibility issue. Don’t tell me that these lies are inconsequential. Just like perjury and libel are possible in a country with free speech but are punishable by law anyway (because they leave innocent victims), so are deliberate lies and deception regarding facts of a serious federal nature.
The alternative is that people within the federal government can only make decisions on the basis of sworn statements - not on the basis of “news reports” of any kind. Is that what you prefer?
The law does not seem to say what you seem to think it says.