I've decided to bring this draft out of the basement filing cabinet, dust it off, and have another go at it after placing it on hold roughly a year ago after it fell out of quorum. Feedback and critcisms are welcome, just be gentle as the paper is brittle and is easily subject to wear and tear.
Orwell Society, the original author, wrote this some eight months ago. Well, I'd like to make his words my own now! This proposal is back in official drafting. I welcome any and all suggestions to it, and plead that they're made with certain haste - I do not intend to keep the drafting process going for long, given how much time has passed already.
Orwell Society is no longer active, but he will be rightfully credited as a co-auhor. The fourth draft is now incorporated into this OP:
Combating Disinformation in Society
Category: Political Stability
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: Cessarea
Co-author: The Orwell Society
The World Assembly,
Discontent at the amount of disinformation on a variety of important topics that some member state's societies produce and distribute on a daily basis;
Knowing that said disinformation can be very harmful to society if believed to be true by a large part of the populace;
Determined to stop the spreading of injurious lies with the power of international law from this very Assembly.
Hereby enacts, in compliance with and subject to the provisions and mandates established by extant World Assembly law, the following:
- For the purposes of this resolution, "disinformation" is defined as the distribution of claims or information that is manipulated or fabricated, entirely or partially fictional, or taken out of context for the purpose of deceiving its target - often the general public - by introducing false narratives into the public discourse, with the intention of agitating for violence or political action/support, usually in disfavour of a protected group or governmental effort. Disinformation must be:
- a statement made by a person, organization, or group of people; that is
- presented with the intention of being believed to be a true fact or a valid speculation or theory;
- with the knowledge, from the person/people who made the statement, that the statement is factually untrue; and is
- stated with a purposeful and reckless disregard for the statement's falsity; and
- is likely to cause harm to individuals, and/or
- is intended to harm the reputation and/or wellbeing of any persons, social group, organization, or nation.
- Concomitantly, "misinformation" is defined similarly to disinformation, save for the sole and vital fact that it is spread without the understanding that it is false. The agent of misinformation has no intent to deceive or misguide and may earnestly believe that which they introduce into the public discourse. Agents that spread misinformation are - usually - informed by sources of disinformation. Due to its nature as a consequence of malicious acts, it is hereby established that:
- No individual shall be held criminally responsible for the spread of misinformation;
- Member-states are authorised to impose civil responsibility upon individuals within their jurisdiction, respecting the legislative bounds established by the World Assembly in regard to Civil Rights, Freedom of Expression; anf extraterritorial application of Law.
- Misinformation presented by organizations, public or private, for-profit or not, from which a higher level of scrutiny and fact-checking is expected, is encouraged to be dealt with administratively and civilly, without criminal charges being levied against them.
- The establishment of the Forthright Association for Circulating Truth (shortened to FACT) to provide each memberstate with a force actively fighting against disinformation and misinformation alike.
- FACT will monitor internally, without public disclosure, leading sources of false, manipulated, fabricated, fictional, unreliable, or misleading information
- FACT shall not be responsible for denouncing or persecuting agents of disinformation, being tasked exclusively with the spread of truth and diligent research.
- FACT will not interfere in anything directly relating to or affecting one's religious beliefs, including that in which a person/peoples believe to be true, but excluding that in which is already scientifically or historically established. FACT will nevertheless advocate against calls for violence in disfavour of individuals, or groups thereof, regardless of belief.
- FACT will locate the sources of the disinformation and launch campaigns to combat it and provide the populace with proven, reliable facts backed by actual research and science.
- The disinformation handled by FACT will be on a variety of topics, including but not limited to: physical, emotional, and mental health; history; and science and technology.
- The information distributed by FACT must be proven fact, either by scientific, historical, or general research from proven, reliable sources. FACT shall ensure that a variety of sources are taken into account, and that differing versions of one topic are presented with neutrality, weighted by the preponderance of reliable, scientific evidence on the side of any given topic.
- FACT will distribute its research independently, by all means it deems reasonable, however individual member nation's governments can choose to specifically request and accommodate FACT within their nation. The information may be in any form each individual member nation's government pleases, whether it be by book, internet article, pamphlet, advertising campaign, television program, etc., as long as it is an efficient and effective method of spreading the information.
- The criminalization of the deliberate, repeat spreading of harmful disinformation by a person, organization, or group of people.
- Punishment of an individual's violation of this ban will be decided upon by the individual member state's government;
- The criteria of knowledge and reckless disregard established by article 1, paragraph b and c, must be proven materially. Malicious intent must be established beyond a reasonable doubt for criminal liability;
- A threshold for minimum legal relevance for criminal liability is furthermore mandated. Statements that attend to the essential qualities of disinformation as established by article 1 must be further proven to have had significant impact within the proper context of the crime - local, regional, or national. Civil liability is unaffected by this requirement.
Hoping that these measures combat the spread of disinformation, for the betterment of all member states' societies.