Algeria criminalises ‘fake news’, activists denounce law

ALGIERS - Algerian lawmakers on Wednesday passed a law criminalising the broadcast of "fake news" deemed harmful to "public order and state security", as part of reforms to the penal code.

The law - opposed by protesters and rights activists - was put before parliament, debated and then approved in a morning session, according to state TV.

The chamber was near-empty, owing to the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing measures.

The law "criminalises... the broadcast of fake news that seeks to undermine order and public security", as well as "state security and national unity."

A second bill penalising discrimination and hate speech was passed in the same sitting after a short debate, state TV reported.

The move comes after Algeria's anti-establishment protest movement suspended its street rallies last month in a voluntary bid to stem the spread of coronavirus.

It also comes amid increasing repression of opposition and media in the country during recent months.

The protest movement began in February last year and quickly forced longtime ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down, but people continued to gather every Friday for months after his fall in a bid to force major institutional reform.

Critics and activists say that the new bill is an excuse to allow the government to crack down on the freedom of press and expression.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for North Africa denounced the law as a future tool for the “censorship and intimidation of the press.”

“How to muzzle a little + freedom of the press in # Algeria? In the midst of the # covid_19 epidemic, a handful of deputies voted to reform the penal code "criminalizing" the dissemination of "fake news" which "undermines public order and state security,” RSF wrote on Twitter.

“#Algeria: 3 years in prison, even 5 in "sanitary confinement period", this is the penalty provided for anyone who disseminates or propagates this ‘false information’. @Rsf_inter denounces a vague and liberticidal bill, a future tool for censorship and intimidation of the press,” added RSF.

Algerian authorities have blocked a third online news website that covered the anti-government "Hirak" protest movement, stirring condemnation Monday from RSF.