In Kyrgyzstan, deputies want to introduce Internet censorship

The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan introduced a bill “On manipulation of information” for public discussion. The initiators are the deputies Gulshat Asylbaeva and Ainura Osmonova.

The explanatory note states that “the relevance of the bill is due to the fact that the current legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic doesn’t regulate legal relations related to the dissemination of information in the Internet space”.

The authors of the bill also refer to foreign experience. In particular, the example of Germany is given, where on January 1, 2018, the Law “On improving the law enforcement in social media” or “Facebook law” (as it is most often called in the country) came into force. The main goal of the law, according to the explanatory note, is the protection of a free, open and democratic society, as well as the fight against hate speech and the spread of fakes. In addition, the experience of struggle with fake news in France and the UK is mentioned.

According to the proposed bill, dissemination of false or doubtful information on the Internet is not allowed in Kyrgyzstan, and the owner of the site or page, on which the information is posted, is required to ensure compliance with the law.

According to the idea of ​​the deputies, if false or doubtful information is detected, the authorized state body makes a decision on pre-trial restriction of access to information that has signs as false or doubtful, and if the notification is ignored, it addresses the judicial authorities. The bill also stipulates that the provider must provide the judicial authorities with information about users.

Access to the Internet will be renewed as the cause of the restriction of access will be removed or by a court decision that will be entered into legal force.

In addition, the document, proposed by the deputies, stipulates the responsibilities of Internet users and owners of sites or pages on social networks. They will have to:

– indicate on the site or page the last name, initials and email address for sending “legally significant messages”;

– prevent the distribution of false and doubtful information on the website or page;

– restrict access to false information immediately;

– ensure compliance of information with the requirements of the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.

It is proposed to keep voice, text and other messages for six months.

“The provider is obliged to keep in the Kyrgyz Republic the information on the facts of the reception, transmission, delivery and (or) processing of voice information, written text, images, sounds or other electronic messages from Internet users and information about these users for six months from the date of completion of such actions”, the document notes.

Begaim Usenova, head of the public foundation “Institute of Media Policy”, has already announced her position on the parliamentary initiative on Facebook. She believes that the bill “On manipulation of information” contradicts the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic and creates a censor, restricts the rights and freedoms of citizens, entails changes to the expenditure side of the state budget, imposes an additional burden on entrepreneurs and citizens.

“The procedure for limiting, prohibiting, resuming access to information should be established on the basis of the Constitution and laws, while the draft law proposes the development of by-laws by the Kyrgyz government to establish this order. This is a violation of the Constitution, according to which the adoption of by-laws and regulations restricting human rights and freedoms is not allowed,” Usenova explains.

At the same time, she notes that, since the bill doesn’t prescribe the procedure, but makes a reference to the fact that the procedure for restricting access to information will be determined by the government, it is not clear how the authorized body will decide that the information, disseminated by a certain user on social networks, is false. In the absence of accuracy and clarity of wording in the law, the functions of a censor are imposed on the authorized body.

“The initiators are also misleading when they indicate that this draft law will not entail social, economic, legal and other consequences. The fact is that the bill creates a new authorized body, but there is no financial and economic justification. We usually have a budget deficit. And now under the conditions of a coronavirus, there is a huge gap in the budget, and the deputies propose a new bureaucratic institution, which means new expenses for maintaining the apparatus,” the head of the Institute of Media Policy reports.

In her opinion, the authors of the bill didn’t analyze the regulatory impact of the law and didn’t calculate its economic consequences for business.

“The initiators oblige providers to keep voice messages, written texts, images and other users’ messages for six months. So, they have to keep all the traffic of Internet users, and this is an issue of additional financial burden on providers. They need to buy a powerful equipment that can save such huge information volume. A business, that is going through hard times, will not be able to go to great expense, so it will include the implementation of this norm in the price of the service delivered to consumers,” Usenova said.

According to her, it is also unclear how providers will restrict access to information on social networks. The only solution in the Kyrgyz Republic can be the blocking of these networks.

“According to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, each of us has the right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech. And although, it isn’t absolute, interference with the rights and freedoms of citizens (including the right to freedom of speech) is allowed only under clearly defined conditions. Exceptions should: 1) be established by the law; 2) pursue a specific goal (to protect national security, public order, protect the health and morality of the population, protect the rights and freedoms of others); 3) be proportionate to these goals,” she says.

Azamat Kasybekov, chairman of the Independent Union of Journalists of the Kyrgyz Republic, told ACCA that his organization would insist on improvement of the bill or even its retraction.

“Our community understands the urgent need to combat fakes. However, prohibitive legislative initiatives can do little to help. The dissemination of false information must be fought through improving the culture of consumption and data verification, through the development of fact checking. What the deputies are now offering is crackdown for the media community. Lawyers have already analyzed this document and concluded that it was not thought out in many aspects. We agree with this point of view, and we will ask developers to finalize the bill,” he said.

Kasybekov also noted that the new parliamentary initiative involves increasing the state apparatus amid increased pressure on the media and providers.

“And this is fundamentally wrong. The document posted for discussion on the website of the Jogorku Kenesh doesn’t really explain what the new state body will be doing, but it sets out additional responsibilities for heads of media resources, Internet users and providers. The adoption of this bill is fraught with negative consequences for everyone – the government, journalists and ordinary citizens. At the same time, I repeat, there is no certainty that such an initiative will help to reduce the amount of false information in the Kyrgyz segment of Internet. The only weapon in the fight against fakes can only be raising public awareness, as well as strengthening self-regulatory functions in the journalistic environment,” said the head of the Independent Union of Journalists.

It should be noted that against the background of the coronavirus infection pandemic in Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security assumed the functions of the main fighter with fakes.

Since the appearance of the first data on the coronavirus, the State Committee for National Security has searched and found distributors of unofficial information about COVID-19, which the authorities call false, in social networks and messengers. Citizens were summoned to the department for a discussion, after which the press service sent video clips of the apologies of the Kyrgyz citizens to the media. There were similar messages almost every day.

The State Committee for National Security stopped doing such a mailing, when users of the Kyrgyz segment of Internet began a flash mob on social networks in support of the doctor Bektur Apyshev, who was forced to apologize for his post on Twitter about the lack of personal protective equipment for doctors to work.