Submit MozillaPH Position Paper on Anti-Fake News Law

[bobreyes]

There are two (02) bills currently filed in the Senate related to having an Anti-Fake News Law. Please feel free to leave your comments so that we can incorporate them into the position paper to be submitted by MozillaPH.

Senate Bill No. 1296

http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/lis/bill_res.aspx?congress=19&q=SBN-1296

Long Title:
AN ACT CRIMINALIZING THE CREATION AND DISSEMINATION OF FAKE NEWS FOR THE PROTECTION FROM ONLINE FALSEHOODS AND MANIPULATION, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE, REPUBLIC ACT NO 10175, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE CYBERCRIME PREVENTION ACT OF 2012

Filed on September 7, 2022 by Estrada, Jinggoy E.

Senate Bill No. 1590

http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/lis/bill_res.aspx?congress=19&q=SBN-1590

Long Title:
AN ACT CRIMINALIZING THE CREATION AND DISSEMINATION OF FAKE NEWS FOR THE PROTECTION FROM ONLINE FALSEHOODS AND MANIPULATION, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10175, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE CYBERCRIME PREVENTION ACT OF 2012

Filed on December 5, 2022 by Revilla Jr., Ramon Bong

[bobreyes]

My concerns:

1. Why not focus on Disinformation and Misinformation instead of Fake News only? Based on how things are defined: Fake News is a "news item" or story that is not true. Whereas, Disinformation is false information that's created and shared to deliberately cause harm. Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. It differs from disinformation, which is deliberately deceptive. Rumors are information not attributed to any particular source, and so are unreliable and often unverified, but can turn out to be either true or false.

2. What will be the basis for truth? For matters involving religion, something that is believed as "truth" in one may not be perceived as a fact by the other.

3. Fact-checkers in some social media platforms are merely opinion checkers according to a US court document https://mb.com.ph/2021/12/15/us-court-document-facebook-fact-checkers-are-merely-opinion-checkers/