And one of the bills introduced in the house was the Summary Jurisdiction Offenses Amendment bill. This bill seeks to increase the penalty for the offence of spreading or publishing false news. According to the Minister of Education, it has been fine tuned so that offenders will be identified by a specific set of guidelines to prove that they were maliciously spreading the false information. And the fines will be a lot harsher.
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
"The flood of information related to the covid19 pandemic presents a challenge in itself. In addition to accurate information, there is disinformation and misinformation about possible cures or remedies for the covid19 virus, the origin of the disease, the details of particular cases, the efficacy of government policies and much more. Often, internet users share misleading or inaccurate information inadvertently out of concern for their love ones. In some cases bad actors do so to exploit societal fears and so discord to interfere with responses to the ongoing health crisis or to profit from the crisis.; Misinformation and disinformation represent a serious challenge in addressing a viral epidemic or other public health crisis that it is an offence if a person maliciously fabricates or knowingly spreads or publishes whether by writing or by word of mouth or otherwise any false news or false report intending to create or foster public alarm or to produce public detriment. So, instead of prescribing a specific provision to address spreading of false news in relation to covid19, the provision under the summary jurisdiction offences act is best suited to combat the threat of misinformation and disinformation. The offence under section 319 is not committed unless certain elements are satisfied and as such it is not an offence that can be used arbitrarily to sensor individuals or deprive them of their right to freedom of expression unless such expression creates a public detriment and that individual did so intentionally. Given the serious implications that can result from the spread of false information, the penalty in relation to this offence is a fine of $3,000 or imprisonment for a term of 6 months."
