Turkey Parliament on Thursday adopted a law proposed by President Tayyip Erdogan that would jail journalists and social media users for up to three years for spreading “Fake News“.
President Erdogan’s ruling party (AKP) and its allies MHP, which together have a majority, voted to approve the bill even as opposition MPs, European countries and media rights activists have called to scrap it. Critics have said there is no clear definition of “false or misleading information”, so the law may be used for abuse.
The law’s Article 29 raised the most concerns over free expressions. It says those who spread false information online about Turkey’s security to “create fear and disturb public order” will face a prison sentence of one to three years.
Sources said, Erdogan’s government is trying to control the mainstream as well as social media. The President Election is just few months away in 2023, in that case, they may use media for their benefits. The mainstream media is already under control of the government, by this new law, they will now avoid any sort of criticism and will manipulate 85-million population. The social networks and Internet-based media remained largely free of oversight – much to the growing annoyance of Erdogan.
Turkey was ranked 149th out of 180 countries in the Annual Media Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) earlier this year. “Authoritarianism is gaining ground in Turkey, challenging media pluralism”, RSF said. ” All possible means are used to undermine Critics”, it added.
One lawmaker from the Secular CHP party (opposition) smashed his phone with a hammer in parliament to demonstrate how freedom of expression was being destroyed, specially for the Youth. He said, “you have only freedom left – the phone in your pocket; if the law passes in parliament, you can break your phone like this”.
image credits: Middle East Monitor
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