Former FEC Chair Wants Law To Charge Readers Who Spread Fake News With Libel
By Aaron Kesel of ActivistPost.com
A former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, Ann Ravel, has proposed an insane new law that seeks to punish readers of news with libel if a story is deemed false. Yes, you read that right, she wants to charge you the person reading this right now. Talk about an Orwellian law.
The new proposal is titled Fool Me Once: The Case for Government Regulation of ‘Fake News.’ and would be implemented to “improve voter competence.”
This crazy woman wants to charge you simply for sharing “fake news” on Facebook, Twitter or in a comment section. Does Ravel realize she lives in the U.S., not communist China where information is filtered? Oh, but she’s not the only one off her rocker forgetting her Constitution baby bottle. The measure was co-written by Abby K. Wood, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, and Irina Dykhne, a student at USC Gould School of Law.
In their proposal, they wrote, “after a social media user clicks ‘share’ on a disputed item (if the platforms do not remove them and only label them as disputed), government can require that the user be reminded of the definition of libel against a public figure. Libel of public figures requires ‘actual malice,’ defined as knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. Sharing an item that has been flagged as untrue might trigger liability under libel laws.”
