Turkey’s parliament adopted the much-critiqued ‘disinformation law’ that accords jail terms of up to three years to social media users and journalists for spreading ‘disinformation’.

1. Turkey’s New Disinformation Law
Context:
 Turkey’s parliament adopted the much-critiqued
‘disinformation law’ that accords jail terms of up to three
years to social media users and journalists for spreading
‘disinformation’.
About the law:
 The “disinformation law” is a collection of roughly 40
articles that would change about 23 separate statutes
collectively.
 Article 29 is the most divisive of the 40.
 In order to instill fear or terror among the citizenry, it is
illegal to publicly broadcast false information concerning
the nation’s internal and foreign security, public order, and
general well-being.

2.  The Turkish government has maintained that the bill will
address situations in which persons of different political
ideologies, religious beliefs, or ethnicities are slandered and
defamed by anonymous online accounts.
 A jail term between one and three years has been
introduced for any violation with the extension of an
additional half of the initially stipulated term if the actions
are done in anonymity. social media platforms could now
be asked to hand over user data to Turkish courts to
implement this law.
Apprehensions Surrounding the law:
 Critics, including the Venice Commission, which advises
the Council of Europe on constitutional issues, have
criticised the vague definition of some key terms, including
“disinformation.”
 The law gives prosecutors the authority to make that
determination.
 Critics claim that Turkey’s history of judicial persecution of
journalists and other social scientists and the country’s
intense polarisation do not paint a positive picture.
 Now that news websites are recognised by the law as being
a component of mainstream media, they are subject to the
same rules as newspapers.
 This includes removing reports that have been reported to
regulatory authorities and posting a denial on the same
hyperlink.

3.  Press freedom in Turkey is already not particularly
spectacular. In the Press Freedom Index, it comes in at
position 149 out of 180. (2022).
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