TURKEY’S DISINFORMATION LAW

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The Parliament of Turkey adopted the ‘disinformation law’, the law has provision to jail terms of up to three years for social media users and journalists for spreading ‘disinformation’.
The law includes 40 articles that would amend several other laws.
It designates it an offence to publicly spread misleading information about the country’s internal and external security, public order and general well-being to cause fear or panic among the people.
The Turkish government has argued that it would curb sharing of illegal content under fake names and where anonymous accounts defame individuals of differing political thought, religion or ethnicity.
To implement the law, Social media platforms could be asked to hand over user data to Turkish courts.
Critics have criticized the unclear interpretation of ‘disinformation’. The legislation also lacks clarity on how the individual shall be deemed guilty of sharing or manufacturing the information in an offline space.