Italian gag law threatens bloggers with €25 000 fines for 'incorrect' facts
ROME, ITALY: - Bloggers, podcasters and even anyone who posts updates on social networks such as Facebook all face being slapped with fines of up to €25 000 (about R240 000) for publishing incorrect facts, if a bill that journalists' organisations are calling "authoritarian" currently before the Italian parliament is passed.
A provision within the government's Media and Wiretapping Bill will extend Italy's "obbligo di rettifica", or rectification obligation - a law dating back to 1948 that requires newspapers to publish corrections - to the internet and indeed anyone "responsible for information websites".
