Tinker, tailor, Twitter, lie: government disinformation and freedom of expression in a post-truth era
The spread of disinformation has received significant attention in recent years, yet little has been paid to government disinformation, and whether governments may violate freedom of expression not only in how they regulate disinformation, but also in how they facilitate, sow and spread it. This art...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2022
|
| _version_ | 1826311711897944064 |
|---|---|
| author | Pentney, K |
| author_facet | Pentney, K |
| author_sort | Pentney, K |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The spread of disinformation has received significant attention in recent years, yet little has been paid to government disinformation, and whether governments may violate freedom of expression not only in how they regulate disinformation, but also in how they facilitate, sow and spread it. This article analyses whether and to what extent Article 10 of the ECHR is engaged by government disinformation. It extends the analysis from well-established violations of freedom of expression—overt censorship and withholding information—into novel forms of government interference in the ‘post-truth’ age: false claims of ‘fake news’ levelled at the press and intentional lies about matters of public importance. These latter categories warrant further attention, as governments can cause just as much harm to public discourse and debate by intentionally injecting falsehoods as by censoring truth. A purposive approach to freedom of expression is needed to protect not only the means of expression, but also the ends—vibrant democratic discourse and meaningful public debate. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:15:15Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:2a32be5f-d7b2-447a-a4e5-2bed524cb9f9 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:15:15Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:2a32be5f-d7b2-447a-a4e5-2bed524cb9f92023-12-19T17:04:49ZTinker, tailor, Twitter, lie: government disinformation and freedom of expression in a post-truth eraJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:2a32be5f-d7b2-447a-a4e5-2bed524cb9f9EnglishSymplectic ElementsOxford University Press2022Pentney, KThe spread of disinformation has received significant attention in recent years, yet little has been paid to government disinformation, and whether governments may violate freedom of expression not only in how they regulate disinformation, but also in how they facilitate, sow and spread it. This article analyses whether and to what extent Article 10 of the ECHR is engaged by government disinformation. It extends the analysis from well-established violations of freedom of expression—overt censorship and withholding information—into novel forms of government interference in the ‘post-truth’ age: false claims of ‘fake news’ levelled at the press and intentional lies about matters of public importance. These latter categories warrant further attention, as governments can cause just as much harm to public discourse and debate by intentionally injecting falsehoods as by censoring truth. A purposive approach to freedom of expression is needed to protect not only the means of expression, but also the ends—vibrant democratic discourse and meaningful public debate. |
| spellingShingle | Pentney, K Tinker, tailor, Twitter, lie: government disinformation and freedom of expression in a post-truth era |
| title | Tinker, tailor, Twitter, lie: government disinformation and freedom of expression in a post-truth era |
| title_full | Tinker, tailor, Twitter, lie: government disinformation and freedom of expression in a post-truth era |
| title_fullStr | Tinker, tailor, Twitter, lie: government disinformation and freedom of expression in a post-truth era |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tinker, tailor, Twitter, lie: government disinformation and freedom of expression in a post-truth era |
| title_short | Tinker, tailor, Twitter, lie: government disinformation and freedom of expression in a post-truth era |
| title_sort | tinker tailor twitter lie government disinformation and freedom of expression in a post truth era |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pentneyk tinkertailortwitterliegovernmentdisinformationandfreedomofexpressioninaposttruthera |