Regulatory Responses to 'Fake News' and Freedom of Expression: Normative and Empirical Evaluation

National authorities have responded with different regulatory solutions in attempts to minimise the adverse impact of fake news and associated information disorder. This article reviews three different regulatory approaches that have emerged in recent years-information correction, content removal or blocking, and criminal sanctions-and critically evaluates their normative compliance with the applicable rules of international human rights law and their likely effectiveness based on an evidence-based psychological analysis. It identifies, albeit counter intuitively, criminal sanction as an effective regulatory response that can be justified when it is carefully tailored in a way that addresses legitimate interests to be protected.

Automated summary

This article reviews three different regulatory approaches in response to fake news and information disorder, evaluating their normative compliance and likely effectiveness. It concludes that criminal sanctions, when carefully tailored, can be an effective regulatory response in addressing legitimate interests to be protected.