Turkey’s parliament on Thursday night passed a disinformation law ahead of the June 2023 general election, providing for up to three years in prison for disclosing “false or misleading information”.
In addition to newspapers, radios, televisions, the law targets social networks and websites which will be asked to denounce and deliver the personal information of their users accused of spreading false news.
“Censorship law”?
Debated since early October, the 40 articles of the text adopted Thursday evening, officially called “press law”, have been the subject of numerous amendments tabled (in vain) by the opposition which denounces for its part a “censorship law “.
Article 29, in particular, provides for prison sentences of one to three years for “spreading false or misleading information contrary to the internal and external security of the country and likely to harm public health, disturb the public order, to spread fear or panic among the population”.
This text was tabled in May by AKP deputies, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, who will seek a new term in June 2023.