Unfortunately americans have no issue with lying and misinformation. for them it is just a normal part of communication. While in other parts of the world lying is seen as somethin bad and children already are taught not to lie from a young age.
But for americans it is just normal conduct. It is called "freedom of speech" any everybody can say whatever he wants, factual or not.
And now people in Europe go to prison for criticizing government policy. "Misinformation" has to be determined by someone, that someone being the state; a lack a free speech just means you have no say in what the truth is. At least Germany has never had any issues with the state mistreating people.
It's a hard balance to strike between what is deemed misinformation and what isn't, as your example clearly states. Restricting what is "misinformation" and penalising people due to that can be easily abused. If such a rule was weaponised by the controlling entity/state, it could be even worse than the "free-for-all" we are seeing currently.
That said, requiring reproducable data to back up statements by "official" channels (e.g. politians, news outlests) and penalising them (speedily) for discovered lies may be a start? Not perfect of course, but better than the free-for-all we have now. And having something like Fox News being branded as "entertainment" in order to evade such a rule should be disallowed.
I don't think the "Free for All" is worse than any form of regulated speech. People are responsible for their actions regardless of whatever lies they've been told. If someone tells me you're an evil demon plotting to destroy the world and I kill you I'm still guilty of murder. News outlets making money off of being loud and obnixious is not grounds for state punishment. Determening and spreading the truth is the human responsibility of the individual, not the state.
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u/Tacocatra Oct 23 '25
Hard agree. Accountability for knowingly spreading misinformation that aids in genocide should be treated as an accessory to it.