In the past decade, we have seen a significant shift in how governments talk about misinformation. Many countries now consider or intentionally frame misinformation as a matter of national security or public safety in order to justify the passage of new laws that impose penalties for the spread of information deemed false or other administrative or regulatory requirements. .
What explains this sudden rise in global misinformation laws, and what are the risks of using legislation as a primary means of mitigation?
This is the focus of “True Costs of Misinformation: The Global Spread of Misinformation Laws,” a new article co-authored by the Citizen Lab’s Gabrielle Lim, published by the International Journal of Communication.
She and her co-authors led a multi-year investigation into the global proliferation of misinformation legislation and incrimination. Drawing on data from 177 counties over the past 15 years and a systematic review of 57 articles, their analysis identified four conditions that have driven the rise of legislation against misinformation:
- The popularization of the term“fake news” by political and media elites,
- Western influence over global security discourse and policymaking,
- The desire for governments to control the flow of information, and
- High-profile revelations around platform governance and harm.
Read here to learn more about how the co-occurrence of these conditions led to a tighter control over online misinformation.
Gabrielle Lim is a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Toronto.