Arpine Hovhannisyan, the head of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, informed weeks ago that the PACE is discussing the issue of providing measures of responsibility for the misinformation in the electronic media and social media.

Hovhannisyan presented the content of that initiative in more detail.

“The author presents the following arguments to justify his initiative.

1. Social media is one of the most important platforms for political debate and has become very influential in shaping public opinion. It is therefore extremely worrying that social media is being used as a tool for manipulation and misinformation, while oversight and regulation in this area is either ignored or non-existent.

2. This situation is a threat not only to political processes in democratic societies, but also an obstacle to proper and balanced informing of society.

As a solution, the author suggests that the Parliamentary Assembly should study:
– how social media are used, appropriating the fundamental principle of freedom of speech;
– how to counter disinformation spread through social media, including by creating search engines/search engine algorithms/.

As a result, it is suggested that the CE, in its various formats, oblige the member states to provide for:
– restrictive rules for the use of social media that will prevent and neutralize misinformation and manipulation;

– severe sanctions for violating the agreed rules,” Arpine Hovhannisyan wrote on her Facebook page.