Separating Truth From Fiction:Legal Aspects Of ”Fake News”

Abstract

Nowadays, the IT technology enables online communication all over the world with extremely high speed. In addition to information the so called ‘fake news’ are also spreading. Fake news are usually fabricated information with the aim to be harmful for the system or person. It is of special interest to eliminate or control disinformation which appear on social networks. The hypothesis is that the spreading of fake news is able to be stopped if legal acts and regulations would be introduced. In our study the existing fake news laws of some of countries all over the world are analyzed and compared. The advantages and disadvantages of legalization of fake news are discussed. It is concluded that the potential `fake news` legislation seriously damages the concept of democracy. A procedure for protecting of spreading of fake news is suggested. The solution effectively stops spreading the misinformation and damaging reputation, but at the same time the freedom of expression would not be harmed according to inclusion of principles of human rights.