Shutting Down Mis-/Disinformation in South Africa

All we have to do to reach liberal utopia is follow behind South Africa. Here’s how it deals with misinformation/disinformation:

In a notice published in the Government Gazette on 22 March, the FPB [Film and Publication Board] has attempted to prescribe new regulations governing misinformation and disinformation in South Africa.

According to the FPB, an untrue communication is disinformation if you know it isn’t true and misinformation if you think it is true.

Who determines what you think? The government. Who determines whether something is true? The government.

Anyone found guilty of distributing such prohibited content faces a fine of up to R150,000 and zero to two years imprisonment.

R150,000 = US $8,066.

Internet Service Providers who learn that their services were used to disseminate disinformation or misinformation face fines of up to R750,000 and five years in prison if they don’t notify the FPB within 30 days.

R750,000 = US $40,330.

ISPs can’t pretend they don’t know about thoughtcrime conveyed on their platforms, because there is no shortage of eagle-eyed liberals eager to rat them out, as when Moonbattery.com lost almost all of its advertising revenue because it was evidently denounced to Google AdSense, Taboola, etc. as a platform for dissident opinion.

The FPB then also attempts to extend its powers regarding registration and other obligations of Internet service providers over platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Google.

Talk about chilling free speech — no wait, don’t talk about it. You might say something the government disagrees with and get fined and/or imprisoned. The rest of the West is not far behind South Africa — which in turn is not far behind Zimbabwe.

Even in the Rainbow Nation, there is still vestigial resistance:

Media Monitoring Africa, the South African National Editors Forum, the Campaign for Free Expression, the Press Council of South Africa, and the SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition have served the FPB with an ultimatum to withdraw the notice or face legal action.

However, the FPB is not backing down. What are lovers of freedom going to do, elect non-leftists? Demographics make that inconceivable.

On a tip from ABC of the ANC.

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