Posted on 12/18/2017 5:29:32 AM PST by Olog-hai
An Irish politician has brought forward a new bill to the Dáil (Irish parliament) which will attempt to legislate to prevent the spread of fake news stories and articles in Ireland.
The groundbreaking proposals were brought forward by opposition party Fianna Fáil in the wake of the influence of bots and fake new articles in politics overseas, especially in the 2016 US Presidential election and the Brexit referendum in the UK.
There are concerns that although fake news has not been used so far to influence political debate in Ireland, even in the particularly intense 2016 general election, that this could change in the future, especially with the prospect of a referendum on the legality of abortion in Ireland on the horizon.
The bill proposes that the use of internet bots in an attempt to influence political debate could result in five years jail time and a $10,000 fine, placing the same restrictions on online political advertising in Ireland as TV, radio, and print advertisements. This will require those purchasing the ads to provide complete transparency on their aim and who the target audience is to be. Ireland already has much stricter defamation laws than in the US, at least giving the appearance of a much more bipartisan approach to journalism and news reporting with no equal to the likes of Fox News.
(Excerpt) Read more at irishcentral.com ...
The Irish fought for 700 years to get 80% of their island back from England. Within about 50 years of independence, they surrender that independence to a multinational authority.
We need such a bill here in the U.S...........when if it ever got passed, the media will have to shut down completely, they survive on fake news.
I recall seeing an analysis conducting during the 2016 presidential election that found that the vast majority of the bots were spreading pro-Hillary propaganda. It is not surprising--the left has always paid activists to spread its propaganda, and bots are just another tool for that.
With the attempts to legalize birth-control abortion in Ireland, I would expect to see the number of bots skyrocket, spreading false stories about women who died from illegal abortions and promoting the narrative that a woman's natural response to getting pregnant is to want to kill the kid.
Attempts to control the promulgation of fake news sound noble in theory, but I'd be very worried about it--who decides what is fake news? If leftists are in charge, they will define fake news as being anything that does not promote the narrative, with no regard as to whether the news is actually based on facts or evidence.
No, they did not “fight” for that long.
And it was the papacy that put Ireland under the authority of an English king in the first place.
So if fake news is reported and you go and tell a friend over the internet or whatever you’re the one in trouble??
Unintended consequences:
Selective enforcement.
This sounds ripe for the political group/candidate in power to use the law against an opposition group/candidate.
Who is going to be the ‘filter’ for every possible piece of news to determine whether it is fact or fake? This has the makings of a bureaucratic nightmare.
“Fake news” = Not following the approved narrative.
Orwell knew what he was talking about
I’d call that an intended consequence myself. Tyrants know what they’re doing.
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