The measure is expressed in the proposed Law on the Dissemination of False Information on the Internet, an initiative of the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Social Communication, drawn up in March and to which Lusa had access on Monday.
The legislative initiative states that Angola’s constitution safeguards the freedom of expression and information of all citizens, respecting the limits of everyone’s right to a good name, honour, reputation, image and the reservation of private and family life and others.
According to the law, which has already been approved in cabinet, offences committed in the exercise of freedom of expression and information render the perpetrator liable to disciplinary, civil and criminal action under the terms of the law and the constitution.
In the document, he authorities argue that there is an “accentuated and high number of fake news stories in the current national and international context, associated with high technological growth” and, consequently, the expansion of new social media platforms.
“This requires the existence of a legal framework to regulate fake news (…), since there is a notable insufficiency in this area of regulation,” the text emphasises.
There is, it goes on, an “urgent need” to adapt a “sufficiently comprehensive and integrated” legal approach to false information on the internet in Angola, where the spread of false news “has become much faster and more effective and the traditional tools of the law are not sufficient to combat the phenomenon of ‘fake news’.”
The bill establishes rights and “transparency mechanisms” in the use of social networks and the internet, “with the aim of discouraging the spread of fake news and protecting the data of its users.”
Among the law’s stated objectives are strengthening the democratic process by combating disinformation and encouraging a diversity of information on the internet in Angola, holding digital platforms responsible for their disinformation policies and seeking to raise transparency levels on paid content made available to the user.
At the same time, the text explains, it aims to discourage the use of fake accounts to spread disinformation on internet applications.
This government bill also establishes criminal liability in this regard, typified as being for the offence of spreading false information.
Anyone who intentionally disseminates false information on the internet and causes significant damage to public order, fundamental rights, individual integrity or national security is to be punished with a sentence of one to five years in prison if they cause a disturbance to public order or jeopardise administrative proceedings.
The proposal also provides for a sentence of three to eight years when the dissemination of false information incites hatred, violence, discrimination, honour or good name, and for one of four to 10 years in prison when the false information jeopardises national security or the integrity of electoral processes.
The penalties for the offence of disseminating false information are increased by up to one third in the event of repeat offences under the country’s penal code, the use of false accounts or artificial disseminators to amplify disinformation, or the involvement of public officials in the crime.
The statute states that the law is applicable “even if the activities are carried out by a person resident or based outside the country, as long as the false information is disseminated to the target audience in the national territory or is part of the same economic group that has representation in Angola.”
