Türkiye: Govt introduces new law for journalists and social media to curb spread of 'fake news'

On Thursday (October 14), Türkiye's parliament passed a tough law for reporters and social media entailing imprisonment of up to three years for spreading "false news".

The law imposes a criminal penalty for those who are held on charges. The law allows the court to sentence journalists and social media users to up to three years in jail.

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The ruling party aims to strengthen its grip on the media ahead of the elections. The Council of Europe said that the definition of "disinformation" in the law can lead to increased self-censorship and some severe effects.

The legislation had 40 amendments. The ruling party, AKP, suggested voting separately.

However, it was highly criticised by the opposition. In order to show how freedom of expression is being crushed, especially for youngsters, an opposition lawmaker in parliament smashed his phone with a hammer.

After smashing his phone, Burak Erbay, the CHP lawmaker, said ahead of the vote, "I would like to address my brothers who are 15, 16,17 years old and who will be deciding the fate of Türkiye in 2023. You have only one freedom left -- the phone in your pocket. There's Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. You communicate there." He added that if this law passes, they all can smash their phones like this, reported AFP.

In Türkiye, most of the newspapers and media channels fall under the control of the government. However, most social media networks don't. To change this, the Recep Tayyip Erdogan administration started imposing heavy penalties on big media platforms to comply with local representatives, who can later take down contentious posts.

According to Tayyip, social media is one of the main threats to the country's democracy. He stated that social media is a highly polarised society in Türkiye, making it vulnerable to the spread of false and misleading information.

(With inputs from agencies)

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