However, Mills acknowledges that criminalisation is not...

However, Mills acknowledges that criminalisation is not straightforward.

For example, laws against spreading fake news and health disinformation have been passed in France, Germany, Malaysia, Russia, and Singapore, but social media companies have argued they are not publishers and have minimal responsibility to vet posts, although they have agreed to conduct some editorial decisions and fact checking.

And early evaluation of the German law showed that social media companies were risk averse, curtailing freedom of expression and censoring legitimate material.“

We need to decide whether social media companies are publishers, and we need legislation to guide them to adjust algorithms and determine to what extent information should be balanced and fact checked, with users directed to accurate sources,” she writes.

For instance, certification systems could gauge content accuracy in terms of traceable sources, explicit conflicts of interest, ethical compliance, and revenue reporting.“

The government, scientists, and health authorities also need to take responsibility … offering content as engaging as their misinformation counterparts and allowing dialogue,” she adds.