why is there no law against spreading misinformation?

[Clyan]

I'm not talking about opinions, but simple, clear facts.

Like why is the obvious and malicious intent to confuse and dumb down the general public not a crime?
Shouldn't the enlightenment of mind be something that receives legal protection?

For example, isn't it a danger to society when suddenly big masses of people think vaccines are bad? Or when people go on a rampage because they think 5G is causing corona...

What do you think?

[Devsman]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Anime Control:

Who says what is and isnt fact

If it were illegal to spread misinformation, the government. And we all know they never have an agenda.

[MikeBob2013]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Clyan:

[W]hy is there no law against spreading misinformation?

Because when people get called out for spreading misinformation they complain that whoever's accusing them is trying to censor them or attempting to (here in the US) infringe upon their first amendment right to freedom of speech.

I don't believe any formal statute against the spreading of misinformation can be practicably enforced, really, because so many people do it and it's been going on for a LONG time in human history.

Putting a law on the books against it now (even if it was enforceable) would be like closing the barn door after the cow got out. 🐄

[Luis the Uma Loving Wizard]

Ursprungligen skrivet av tmwfte:

Ursprungligen skrivet av Sir Seanicus:

Who gets to classify something as "misinformation"?

Me. You're all guilty.

To the gulag with all of you.

Nah commie, I ain't going nowhere

[makew_3410]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Engineer with Lime Plumber's Cap:

Ursprungligen skrivet av tmwfte:

Me. You're all guilty.

To the gulag with all of you.

Nah commie, I ain't going nowhere

please tell me tutu is going to the gulag at least

[Adversary]

I'd say that trusting the government is a bad idea, because when in doubt if it can ♥♥♥♥ it up it will do so.

[Defenestration]

That law kind of already exists in the US (defamation) but government shouldn't control what is labeled misinformation. Because what will inevitably end up happening is that corrupt people in power will justify censorship as "stopping misinformation" when something or someone goes against them.

For example, The Communist Chinese Party calls the Ughyur concentration camps "fake news".

[ʙᴜɴ.ᴇ]

There is a law when its regarding someone spreading misinformation about a person which can damage their reputation.

its called defamation of character.

[Crashed]

Please note that according to OP's profile they are from Switzerland where the laws are different.

Assuming their constitution has a free speech clause that could run into problems, however as mentioned in the thread fraud is not generally protected by such laws.

With this sais, OP's mention of 5G conspiracy theories is quite notable, as this misinformation has led to some incidents involving vandalism of cellular infrastructure, which does in fact pose a threat to public safety as it could cut off communications with emergency dispatchers, leading to potential loss of life and property.

[Adversary]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Crashed:

Please note that according to OP's profile they are from Switzerland where the laws are different.

Assuming their constitution has a free speech clause that could run into problems, however as mentioned in the thread fraud is not generally protected by such laws.

With this sais, OP's mention of 5G conspiracy theories is quite notable, as this misinformation has led to some incidents involving vandalism of cellular infrastructure, which does in fact pose a threat to public safety as it could cut off communications with emergency dispatchers, leading to potential loss of life and property.

EU? That explains it. I'd still maintain that trusting the government is a bad idea, regardless of your locale.

And as for people doing stupid ♥♥♥♥ because of lies said online, gullible people tend to be stupid. You can't legislate against stupid, but you can fix it by educating the masses. I do this myself, because I find the best way to fight disinformation is with information. Granted, we live in an age where disinformation masquerades as information whilst claiming otherwise, but then again that's in part because it's the 20s. Anyone who has looked into the Gilded Age, yellow journalism and the like can see parallels between then and now.

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

[Captain n00by]

I think atleast half of the internet and popular media would get banned then.

[JayKaye]

Because we don't know what the facts are. We can never know. We can have a PRETTY GOOD IDEA, but at any time some crazy scientific breakthrough could come along and mathematically prove the sky is actually green.

The problem with making a law is you can't evaluate it on a case by case basis. If you make a law against spreading misinformation, anyone who disagrees with Wikipedia gets arrested. The social media fact checkers have been wrong dozens of times already, you really want to give them legal weight too?

[trousers]

because we don't care about having stupid populaces who believe in whatever the latest psyop is. we just go "meh the internet isn't even real" and then suddenly people start burning down cell towers for no reason. and then we go "well as long as you're not doing a crime in the process" which is the same line of thought that led to neo-♥♥♥♥♥ in the 1990s doxxing anyone left-wing and publishing their details online and mysteriously having them have their houses burn down

because the damage doesn't matter as long as people stay stupid

[JayKaye]

Ursprungligen skrivet av oh!:

because we don't care about having stupid populaces who believe in whatever the latest psyop is. we just go "meh the internet isn't even real" and then suddenly people start burning down cell towers for no reason. and then we go "well as long as you're not doing a crime in the process" which is the same line of thought that led to neo-♥♥♥♥♥ in the 1990s doxxing anyone left-wing and publishing their details online and mysteriously having them have their houses burn down

because the damage doesn't matter as long as people stay stupid

Almost every war in the last 100 years was caused by the news media lying if not for the sake of selling papers, then because they were spreading propaganda for one government or another. Nothing has changed since the New York Times literally caused America to enter World War I.

[dorkenstein]

because the government should not be allowed to use it's overwhelming monopoly on force and violence in order to suppress speech. We already see what happens when large corporations are allowed to do it.

people have all the tools they need to combat misinformation. Critical thinking is not hard. Debating ideas is not hard.

[Γαῖα]

Lol

If you did that OP, politicians,lawyers,reporters/editors, even scientists would be screwed as misrepresenting the truth is their creation and has been for hundreds of years.