2020

The second focused on Fake News on Internet in North Africa region. Four speakers has been invited to cover the topic:

Mr. Houssine SAF, Moroccan Journalist and expert in e-learning and MAG NAIGF member, after listing the different types of misinformation and disinformation, noted that Fake News took over the official information. He explained that disinformation may be a political strategy or unintentional, especially from journalists who are manipulated or under pressure and stressed the role of citizens, journalists and digital players in combatting Fake News. He thinks that the Governments should ensure the reliability and quality of official information; but instead, they are providing Institutional information and Propaganda.

Mr. Hédi Hamdi, Tunisian press editor and director of a communication & public relations agency, described the current situation in Tunisia with false information relayed mainly on social networks provoking great controversy, or even concerns among the population and certain media relay this information from the Internet and in particular on Facebook.

To reduce the effect of Fake News, he believes that the Government and the other parties should –inter alias- have a good communication behavior, providing the appropriate information on time.

Ms. Rim Hayat Chaif, Algerian multilingual investigative journalist and researcher, explained that the spread of Fake News has become a practice in social media amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The unprecedented situation of this pandemic has created an exceptional setting for the spread of online misinformation, disinformation, and manipulation with a great potential to cause dramatic real-world consequences. This is why Algeria took measures to somehow end the misuse of social media and encounter the dangers, passing a new law criminalizing the broadcast of “Fake News” that are deemed harmful for public order or state security in a situation that is also politically unstable, with mistrust of the public, and protests that are still emerging around the country.

Mr. Mohamed Farahat, Egyptian lawyer and Legal Researcher, has covered the main legal issue related to the Fake News in North Africa. He stressed on the necessity to adopt clear criteria for the Fake News that could distinguish between Fake News from the freedom of expression and opinion. He also highlighted the situation in the time of COVID 19 and how the different governments dealt with the news and insisted on the importance to differentiate between what is considered as national security and what is freedom of expression.