Iran The Latest Country To Use 'Fake News' As An Excuse For Widespread Censorship

Ever since people started flipping out about the so-called "fake news" problem on Facebook, we've been warning that this is going to lead to calls for outright censorship of certain ideas. In the US, we've already seen Rep. Marsha Blackburn argue that companies have some sort of obligation to make "fake" news disappear.

But even more concerning is that we're seeing authoritarian governments jumping onto the bandwagon, knowing that they can now use the banner of "fake news" to censor all sorts of content they don't like. A few weeks ago, China announced that it was ramping up internet surveillance efforts to "combat fake news," and now Iran appears to be doing the same thing. The Iranian government has decided that in order to crack down on "fake news," it's going to expand regulations covering public news channels on the instant messaging app Telegram.

As reported by Tasnim News, a hardline news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, Iranian ICT Minister Mahmoud Vaezi made the announcement at a press conference during the National Conference on Public Service. Vaezi cited the dangers "unofficial news channels" pose in Iran's rural and less developed regions, where fake news and misinformation have gained sizeable audiences.

Considering that people have to trust the news released on these channels, it was decided that channels with more than a certain number of members will require a license.

Minister Vaezi's announcement builds on discussions now underway inside Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace, the country's chief authority on Internet policy. According to Vaezi, the ICT Ministry will manage the new licenses alongside the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance - the state agency responsible for regulating Iran's media. Vaezi says the government will form a committee in the coming months, and news channels with more than 5,000 subscribers will be required to win the committee's approval to continue operating legally.

So, for all of you complaining about fake news -- a broad term with no real meaning, and which allows people to claim that anything they dislike, or anything with a small error in it counts as "fake news" -- beware that you're basically handing an easy tool of censorship to governments like China and Iran that have long histories of stifling any kind of dissent. "Fake news" isn't necessarily a good thing, but freaking out about it is playing into the hands of censors worldwide.

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