Poe’s bill barring govt officials from spreading “fake news” presumed unconstitutional, Roque says

February 9, 2018

Senator Grace Poe's bill seeking to bar government officials from spreading "fake news" could be declared as unconstitutional once it is passed into law, Malacanang said on Friday.

Poe filed Senate Bill No. 1680 seeking to amend Sections 4 (b) and 7 of Republic Act No. 6713, otherwise known as the "Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees', and for other purposes.

In a text message to reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Poe's bill is "presumed unconstitutional as content based restriction."

He added that it would be "infirmed for violative of equal protection clause as no basis for singling out government employees."

Poe's bill explained that the government, thru its officials, when it disseminates "information," bears the seal of being "official" and this automatically carries with it the presumption of truthfulness, reliability and accuracy.

Thus, Poe said it is logical and necessary government officials, particularly those charged with the duty or mandate to disseminate information in their respective offices, agencies or departments, "must be subjected to higher standards of proper conduct particularly in their usage of Social Media and other platforms of information dissemination."

She said the proposed measure aims to hold public officials to "higher standards" in the advent of the unavoidable continuous rise of the influence and internet preparation brought about by social media.

Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, recently conducted series of hearings on fake news.

In one of the hearings, she even wondered if the Facebook blog of Presidential Communications Operations Assistant Secretary Margaux "Mocha" Uson could be shut down for allegedly disseminating false information.

According to PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar, Uson's Facebook blog, which has 5 million followers, was not sanctioned by his office as it is her personal blog. Celerina Monte/DMS