France vs. fake news offers test case for democratic dilemma
France vs. fake news offers test case for democratic
dilemma
ANGELA CHARLTON and OLEG CETINIC Associated Press•January
14, 2018
PARIS (AP) — Can a democratic country outlaw fake news?
France is about to find out, after President Emmanuel
Macron ordered a law to quash false information disseminated around electoral
campaigns.
Criticism is pouring in from media advocates, tech
experts — and Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT. They say the law smacks of
authoritarianism, would be impossible to enforce and is sure to backfire.
Macron's stance "could be just the beginning of
actually censoring freedom of speech. We believe it is a very dangerous
situation," Xenia Fedorova, director of RT's newly launched
French-language channel, told The Associated Press.
Yet in a world where a falsehood can reach billions
instantaneously and political manipulation is increasingly sophisticated,
Macron argues something must be done.
A congressional report by U.S. Democrats released
Thursday detailed apparent Russian efforts to undermine politics in 19 European
countries since 2016, using cyberattacks, disinformation, clandestine social
media operations, financing of fringe political groups and, in extreme cases,
assassination attempts. Macron's own campaign suffered a big hacking attack
last year, though the government later said it found no proof of Russian
involvement.
Propaganda and disinformation aren't new or unique to
Russia. Author and technology historian Edward Tenner argues that fake news is
as old as George Washington's cherry tree — an enduring but untrue legend about
the first U.S. president.
While democracies usually rely on defamation and libel
laws to combat false publications, Macron wants more.
In a New Year's speech to journalists, he said he's
ordering a new "legal arsenal" that would oblige news sites to reveal
who owns them and where their money comes from. It could cap the money allowed
for content seen as aimed at swaying an election and allow emergency legal
action to block websites. The French broadcast regulator's power would expand
to allow it to suspend media seen as trying to destabilize a vote — notably
those "controlled or influenced by foreign powers."
That probably means outlets such as RT — whose coverage
was seen as favoring far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in last year's French
election and which many consider a tool of the Russian government — and
Sputnik, another Russian-backed outlet that drew attention for reporting a
rumor during the French presidential campaign that Macron was having a gay
affair.
He denied it, and beat Le Pen anyway, but never forgot.
RT's Fedorova says they are being unfairly targeted.
Speaking from RT's gleaming French studios on the banks of the Seine River, she
says she struggled to get permits to open in France, and her journalists are
routinely barred from the Elysee Palace after Macron accused RT and Sputnik
last year of being "organs" of Russian influence.
RT France's coverage appears broadly similar to other
French networks, with a slightly greater emphasis on street violence and
migrants. The biggest difference: its extensive coverage of Syria, which
stresses the views of the Russian and Syrian governments.
"RT stands for giving the floor, the platform to
different opinions, and I personally believe that diversity of voices is
absolutely necessary in order to have the big picture," said Fedorova, who
says RT will be watching Macron's plan closely.
Media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders is also
watching closely. It has decried fake news as undermining journalists who work
hard to uncover wrongdoing and verify information, but the group is wary of
Macron's order.
"We are not opposed to the principle of a law
against fake news. But the point is to be able to write a law without
endangering the freedom to reveal things," the group's chief, Christophe
Deloire, told the AP.
"Probably our democracies have to be defended in
front of the fake news wave," he said, but not "with the ways that
despotic countries use."
His group, also known by French acronym RSF, is working
with partners on a potential certification system that could classify news
sources according to their verification methods, transparency about financing
and other criteria — and leave it up to the public to decide what to believe.
As France's government prepares its bill, it will be
learning lessons from a German law that went into effect this month cracking
down on hate speech on social networks. Some fear legitimate posts by satirists
or journalists are being accidentally caught up in the dragnet.
Shutting down websites can also backfire by calling more
attention to them.
"The only long-term solution for the fake news
problem is a more sophisticated public," Tenner said.
"Sophisticated manipulators of facts will always
find a way around whatever regulations are in place," such as creating a
front company to sponsor a website or writing "something that is
misleading and inflammatory that is factually true," he said.
Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information
Technology and Innovation Foundation, outlines another problem: "People
like fake news. It reinforces their beliefs."
Macron is prompting "a very valid conversation"
about campaign funding and transparency. But "where it runs into trouble
is when they try to define fake news," he said.
The Macron government's digital affairs chief is lucid
about the challenges ahead.
"This is the beginning of the debate. We won't go
too fast," Mounir Mahjoubi told the AP.
He insists governments shouldn't remain complacent,
especially with elections coming up in Italy, Russia and the U.S., and for the
European Parliament next year.
"We need to ask this question," he said,
"and work all together on what can be done."
David Rising in Berlin and Jona Kallgren in Las Vegas
contributed to this report.
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