Russia targeted by French law on fake news?

Welcome to the time when journalism no longer rimes with verification, when facts have become obsolete and re-establishing the truth is now the duty of formal institutions. Looks like an Orwellian paradigm, doesn’t it? In order to provide an adequate response to the spread of “fake news” – unchecked or intentionally false information that tends to go viral through social networks – governments seek new legislations. French ministry of Culture has been working since last may on the project of a new law giving an additional framework to the media: in the opinion of the minister Françoise Nyssen, the “capacity of judgement” of French citizens is no longer sufficient to distinguish truth from lie.

However, there is a very thin limit between protecting the truth and preserving the integrity and the freedom of mass media. Why would the power have more legitimacy to filter information? How would it filter this information, especially if it is involved or questioned by it?

Nowadays, the cyberspace is particularly vulnerable to the spread of fake news, due to the lack of control mechanisms.  Facing this challenge, a law “against the manipulation of information” was voted by the French National Assembly in first lecture, and transmitted to the Senate for further examination. It includes two most controversial provisions.

Firstly, during an electoral period, members of a political party, candidates or any other stakeholders will have the right to demand the withdrawal of the inaccurate information to a Court. The existing law regulating the media passed in 1881 can now seem out of date considering the rapid changes in the way information circulates. Nevertheless, it already included a part on "false notices"; the new law extends this notion, changing the main term into "unverifiable facts".

Secondly, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) will now be able to prevent or suspend the broadcasting of television services financed or controlled by a foreign State, that threaten the fundamental interests of the nation or are likely to destabilize its institutions.

Russian media Sputnik News and particularly RT France – that has been openly blamed by President Macron during a joint conference with Vladimir Putin – feel directly targeted by this law, and protest against the infringement on their basic right to inform.

The Russian Ambassador to France reacted to this law project wondering "who would actually decide what falls under the qualification of fake news".

Paradoxically enough, and despite all these criticisms, Russia is also currently voting on a bill forbidding fake news.

First, it establishes sanctions in case of non respecting this law: the obligation to delete the content within 24 hours and the payment of a fine (that could go up to 50 million rubles). But this law widens the spectrum of potentially sanctionable material to the "promotion of homosexuality" or any kind of "extremist content" - which exact nature remains undefined in the bill.

The law, finally, stipulates a need for transparency in the means employed by the media to filter their news and holds Internet platforms accountable for the published content.