Earlier this month, the country’s Parliamentary Committee of Legal Affairs of the House of Representatives – i.e., the Cypriot Parliament – debated the proposed amendment, which criminalises the dissemination of “fake news” (a term sometimes used interchangeably with “disinformation”), “insults”, and the online dissemination of “obscene photos and pictures”. If passed, the amendment will reclassify these offences from civil to criminal, with a maximum penalty of five years in jail.
During the House legal committee meeting, Deputy Attorney General Savvas Angelides, and Committee Chair Nicos Tornaritis, who is also Head of the Cyprus Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, were in favour of the amendment.
Tornaritis said his proposed amendment would be submitted to the House of Representatives plenary in September, and that it was just “the first step” towards safeguarding the Cypriot public from fake news.
