Morocco Policies Affecting Disinformation
Legislation
The 2016 Loi relative a la presse et a l’édition or Morocco’s Press Code regulates speech of both journalists as well as public speech in general. Article 72 penalizes distribution by any means of "false or falsified information that have led to disruption to the public order or fear amongst population"[1].
The 2018 Code Penal Marocain criminalizes speech which is “showing a lack of due respect for the king, defaming state institutions, and insulting public agents while they are performing their duties”.[2]
The proposed Draft law no. 22.20 was passed in March 2020 but was temporarily suspended in May 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It tasked “network providers” with “suppressing, prohibiting, restricting access to any electronic content which clearly constitutes a dangerous threat to security, public order or which would be likely to undermine the constants of the Kingdom, its sacredness and its symbols within a period of not more than 24 hours.”[3] [4]
Penal actions
In 2019 Mohamed Sekkaki a prominent Youtube star was arrested for violating the Code Penal Marocain.[5]
In 2020 a prominent Youtube star posted a video which alleged that COVID-19 did not exist and she was arrested for one year for sharing "fake news"[6][7].
See more:
National Policies Affecting Disinformation
- ↑ https://www.techagainstterrorism.org/2020/11/05/the-online-regulation-series-morocco/#_ftn2
- ↑ https://www.techagainstterrorism.org/2020/11/05/the-online-regulation-series-morocco/#_ftn2
- ↑ https://freedomhouse.org/country/morocco/freedom-net/2020#B
- ↑ https://www.article19.org/resources/morocco-social-media/
- ↑ https://freedomhouse.org/country/morocco/freedom-net/2020#footnote4_2b4yyi0
- ↑ https://freedomhouse.org/country/morocco/freedom-net/2020#footnote4_2b4yyi0
- ↑ https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/03/296708/morocco-arrests-female-youtuber-for-spreading-coronavirus-fake-news/