The end of fake news is near

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BY RHODA GARZON CAMPILLAN
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Tuesday, September 5, 2017
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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 10951 or “ An Act Adjusting the Amount or the Value of Property and Damage on which is a Penalty is Based, and Fines Imposed Under the Revised Penal Code.”

Article 154 under this new law imposes hard penalty on “unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances.” This could mean publishing fake or false news. Under the law, the “penalty of arresto mayor and a fine between P 40,000 to P 200,000 shall be imposed to those who are guilty printing and spreading false news.  In addition, arresto mayor has a jail term of from one month and day to six months.

Furthermore, the following are the salient points of the law which will penalize offenders:

“Any person who by the same means, or word, utterances or speeches shall encourage disobedience to the law or to the constituted authorities or praise, justify, or extol any act punished by law.”

“Any person who shall maliciously publish or cause to be published any official resolution or document without proper authority or before they have been published officially”, and “any person who shall print, publish, or distribute or cause to be printed, published, or distributed books, pamphlets, periodicals, or leaflets which do not bear the real printer’s name, or which are classified as anonymous.”

My take on this recent development is positive because finally those who are into creating fake news will be a bit wary of their actions from now on. I know they will not stop immediately. However, they will somehow limit their actions. These kinds of news have caused chaos and confusion among the people. Netizens fight over social media trying to defend their stand on different issues. The sad part is the basis of their opinion is fake.

News stories are supposed to inform and entertain people. It is not there to create conflict or break relationships. But unfortunately, this is the case in social media.

Moreover, I know there will be challenges in capturing culprits of this crime because the internet domain is a universe of its own. We are also not as technologically advanced as the other countries in terms of searching for these types of suspects. But I appreciate the fact that the government is doing something to mitigate this crime.

The journey will still be long in ensuring that no fake news will leak in social media. There will always be defiant people continuing their malpractice. One of the best things netizens could do to stop fake news from proliferating is to be aware of the characteristics of false stories, then filter these out. They should automatically delete these in their timelines and avoid sharing them.

I hope our authorities will be active in their quest to clean social media and the internet of fake news and stories.  I hope it will not be lip service. (rcampillan@usa.edu.ph/PN)
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