It's to Throw Dust in People's Eyes: Ani Samsonyan on the New Media Project Developed by Alen Simonian

The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Alen Simonian, has developed a project proposing amendments to the RA Criminal Code, the RA Criminal Procedure Code, the RA Law on Mass Media, and the RA Civil Code. The project aims to criminalize the intentional publication of obviously false information regarding issues of public interest on the internet, which is disseminated through a pseudonymous source.

In a Facebook post, Simonian stated that these amendments would criminalize "fake factory operations" and "intensive activities via fakes." In an interview with Aravot.am, Ani Samsonyan, the Vice Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Human Rights and Public Affairs, commented on this matter: "There is no certainty in the world on how to combat fake users, because a person also has the right to anonymity, meaning that fake accounts are somehow protected. But generally, concerning this government, you cannot fight against something that you are encouraging; it is a behavior. Thus, I note that this is merely to throw dust in people's eyes."

Samsonyan suggested that the government should first tackle those fake users who engage in promoting the government, and not just amateur initiations, but rather systematic ones. "They should first fight against this, if they want to clean up the field, meaning they should show by their own example that this is unacceptable and should not exist, and only then should they fight against it through legal projects. This is merely being done by the government to show that, look, we are fighting against it, we have no fakes or fake factories, and we condemn this. It is dishonest on their part and they are wasting time uselessly," she concluded.

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