Regulating disinformation on the internet: principles, laws and power relations

Marongiu, Daniele

2021-01-01

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Abstract

The chapter deals with the issue of countering fake news from a legal perspective, trying to answer some questions: whether it is the duty of law to stem disinformation on the Internet, what are the suitable means to do so (that is, strong or soft legal tools), and what results have been achieved where similar actions have already been taken. The answers are not simple. In fact, even if intuitively the law may seem like a good tool to combat and prevent fake news, in reality it would affect a delicate field such as freedom of expression. So, the risk of hitting the “healthy” part of the system is very high. For this reason, by examining the the experiences of different countries, it is verified how today the legal systems, especially in the European Union, are moving towards means other than the legislative acts, less unilateral and more consensual, that is the promotion of self-regulation inside the social networks.