MANILA, Philippines — An amendment to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 that would add sanctions for “fake news” has been proposed by House members.
House Bill 2971 was filed by Malabon Rep. Josephine Lacson-Noel and An Waray party-list Rep. Florencio Noel, which explained “fake news” as misinformation and disinformation of stories, facts, and news which are presented as a fact, the veracity of which cannot be confirmed, with the purpose of distorting the truth and misleading its audience.
The proposed law would make it illegal to create and spread false news using a computer system or any other equivalent techniques that may be developed in the future.
“It cannot be stressed enough that nowadays, people have been repeatedly misinformed about what they consider to be data and facts through the advent of ‘fake news.’ Not even credible sources like media outlets and broadcast stations were spared of the false information spread out by paid trolls to distort truth and deliberately mislead people to think the opposite of what is actually happening,”
Malabon Rep. Josephine Lacson-Noel
“Both misinformation and disinformation must not go unpunished, especially since it poisons the minds of our citizens by distorting the truth,” she added.