false news

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Video embed block test: 8 Turkish journalists face jail for ‘insult’ and ‘false news’ over talk show comments 

Istanbul, September 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish authorities to stop prosecuting broadcasters for commentary after five journalists were charged and three were placed under investigation, accused of either spreading false information or insulting the president in three political debate shows.  “These cases against broadcast journalists are only the most recent in…

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8 Turkish journalists face jail for ‘insult’ and ‘false news’ over talk show comments 

Istanbul, September 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish authorities to stop prosecuting broadcasters for commentary after five journalists were charged and three were placed under investigation, accused of either spreading false information or insulting the president in three political debate shows.  “These cases against broadcast journalists are only the most recent in…

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Kyrgyzstan tightens control over media with new false news laws

New York, July 15, 2025—President Sadyr Japarov signed amendments to the Kyrgyz Code of Offenses on July 8, introducing administrative penalties for spreading “false or unreliable” information via mass media or the internet — another in a series of ongoing moves toward cracking down on the country’s independent press. The law, whose signing was announced July 11, will go…

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Senegalese commentator detained under false news charges

Dakar, July 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Senegalese authorities to immediately release news commentator Bachir Fofana, after a judge ordered on July 2 that Fofana remain in detention until July 9, pending the continuation of his trial. Fofana was charged with publishing false news about the recipient of a vehicle purchase contract for the…

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Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari gestures from a car in Nawabshah on February 8, 2024. (Photo: AFP)

Free speech fears mount as Pakistan’s Senate approves bill criminalizing ‘false news’

New York, January 28, 2025—Pakistan’s Senate on Tuesday passed controversial amendments to the country’s cybercrime laws, which would criminalize the “intentional” spread of “false news” with prison terms of up to three years, a fine of up to 2 million rupees (US$7,100), or both.  The amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) were…

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Sonia Dahmani - A Tunisian appeals court reduced the prison sentence of Sonia Dahmani, a lawyer and political affairs commentator, from one year to eight months on September 10, 2024. She was convicted of spreading false news in July. (Screenshot: Elhiwar Ettounsi/YouTube)

Jailed Tunisian commentator Sonia Dahmani given further 2-year sentence

New York, October 25, 2024 – Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release political commentator Sonia Dahmani, who was sentenced on Thursday to two years in prison for spreading false news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. “Sonia Dahmani is already serving an eight-month prison term in Tunisia and sentencing her to two more…

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Alaa Abdelfattah

Egypt violates own law by adding 2 years to Alaa Abdelfattah’s prison term

Washington, D.C., September 24, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to release Alaa Abdelfattah, a prominent Egyptian-British blogger and writer, upon completion of his five-year prison sentence this Sunday, September 29. Abdelfattah was arrested on September 28, 2019, and in December 2021, he was sentenced to five years in prison, starting from…

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Egypt bans Mada Masr website for 6 months over report on Israel-Gaza war

New York, October 31, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR) to revoke its six-month ban on the  independent news website Mada Masr over its reporting on the Israel-Gaza war and to reverse its decision to refer the outlet for prosecution. On Sunday, the SCMR announced that, after…

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Moroccan policemen

Moroccan authorities briefly arrest journalist Abdelmjid Amyay, ban Abdellatif al-Hamamouchi from traveling

On October 5, 2023, Moroccan police arrested journalist Abdelmjid Amyay, director of local independent news website Chams Post, at a coffee shop in the northeastern city of Oujda and detained him for one night for sharing articles about corruption in the city on his personal Facebook page, according to news reports. The following day, authorities…

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Kloop

Kyrgyz authorities threaten to block website of investigative outlet Kloop

Stockholm, September 8, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Kyrgyzstan authorities to abandon its latest threat to suspend independent investigative outlet Kloop if it does not remove a September 1 article containing allegedly false information. “Following their recent application to shutter the outlet and now their threat to block its website, Kyrgyz authorities’…

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