Following an urgent request from the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Venice Commission has published an urgent opinion on draft amendments to the Penal Code introducing a provision on “false and misleading information”.
The provision modifies the Turkish Penal Code by introducing a new provision criminalising the dissemination of “false or misleading information”. The Venice Commission notes that the confusion surrounding the meaning of the terms in the original version and in the different translations is a matter of concern and it confirms that these terms are not “sufficiently clear”. The draft law would expose persons found guilty of disseminating “false or misleading information” to between one and three years in prison and would increase by half the penalty for offenders who hide their identity or act on behalf of an organisation. The draft provision is meant to apply to any individual, be it a journalist, a politician, an activist, a specialised professional, or the individual citizen. It also covers groups of individuals, organisations, media outlets, online platforms or other intermediaries.
The urgent opinion acknowledges that information disorder (misinformation, disinformation and “malinformation”) is indeed “one of the important issues of these days”, and that there is a need to tackle the serious problems of disinformation campaigns, with presumed impact on election results and subsequently on governments and the constitutional order of states. However the urgent opinion holds that the draft provision “constitutes an interference with the freedom of expression, which is protected by Article 10 ECHR,” and while acknowledging that the draft provision pursues a legitimate aim, the Venice Commission considers that there is no pressing social need to introduce the criminal provision at stake.
The urgent opinion will be presented to the Venice Commission for endorsement at its 132nd plenary session later this month.
