Newspaper N: The government has a plan to combat disinformation, it wants to prosecute the spreaders
Update: 27/12/2022 17:22
Issued by: 27/12/2022, 17:22
Prague – Employees of the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of the Interior developed a plan to combat disinformation. The state could prosecute their spreaders, cut off such websites from state institutions’ advertising or tens of millions of crowns to support independent media that try to combat disinformation. The current government commissioner for disinformation, Michal Klíma, could then become the national manager of this policy and determine the way to combat so-called fake news. Klíma confirmed it today Diary N.
In the first half of next year, there should be a law determining the conditions under which conspiracy websites can be blocked on the Internet. The law is also planned to allow the police to prosecute the deliberate dissemination of disinformation. “A draft law will be submitted to the government to supplement the Criminal Code on the criminal activity of knowingly and intentionally spreading disinformation with the aim of significantly damaging the democratic character of the state or its key security interests,” the document says, according to the server.
Experts also recommend supporting 50 million crowns per year to non-profit organizations that deal with the fight against disinformation. One hundred million crowns a year should then be given to independent media that help in the fight against fake news. “I consider the help to professional news and independent media in this area to be very extra for the media. In addition, the last blow to the copyright law was the amendment of the copyright law, when these publishers lost money from Google,” N Klíma told Denik. The state should also employ more disinformation experts.
The authors of the document drew attention to the fact that even state institutions are now advertising on some websites labeled as disinformation. According to the Open Society Fund, for example, an advertisement for the state agency Czech Tourism appeared there. This practice should be limited. “Disrupting this business model and reducing revenue from this socially harmful business model should be part of the strategy to counter the disinformation threat,” the plan reads. Campaigns against misinformation on social networks should also help.
At the beginning of December, Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said during parliamentary interpellations that the state must face a hostile hybrid war waged also through disinformation, but censorship cannot be introduced. He also pointed out that his cabinet, in dealing with hybrid threats, follows up on the documents adopted on this matter by the previous government of Andrej Babiš (ANO) and gradually fulfills the tasks arising from them. According to the Prime Minister, it also includes the preparation of legislation to strengthen the Czech Republic’s ability to counter disinformation and the creation of a strategic communication system for the state.
In connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several disinformation websites were blocked in the spring. The Internet association CZ.NIC made seven websites available again at the end of May. Among other things, Fiala said at the time that the government had called for the shutdown of disinformation websites in a generally worded resolution and was grateful to non-governmental organizations and commercial companies for shutting down these servers. According to him, however, it was clear to the government that the blocking of websites was only a temporary measure.