France may crack down on the use of Fake News to smear election campaigns

President of France Emmanuel Macron (shown above) sent a proposal to his parliament last week concerning the dissemination of "fake news" around the time of elections in France.  France has a unique quirk in their campaign rules, called the silence républicain, which requires that all candidates must stop running ads on TV, holding rallies, or any other electioneering tactics during the 48-hour period that takes place before the election.  Macron's proposed legislation would require that candidates using fake news to attempt to derail their opponents' campaigns could also be subject to intercession from the courts.  The law "defines fake news as 'every allegation or imputation devoid of verifiable elements of a nature to render it plausible'". [1 image, 1 link, 1 quote, 116 words]