Elizabeth Warren Says She'll Criminalize Spreading 'False Information' Online

Brittany M. Hughes | January 29, 2020
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Massachusetts Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said she’s got a plan to criminalize “disseminating [false] information” online, saying she’ll target big tech companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google for “false information that disempowers voters and undermines democracy.”

“I will push for new laws that impose tough civil and criminal penalties for knowingly disseminating this kind of information, which has the explicit purpose of undermining the basic right to vote,” Warren said in a press release.

“The stakes of this election are too high -- we need to fight the spread of false information that disempowers voters and undermines democracy,” Warren said. “I’ll do my part -- and I’m calling on my fellow candidates and big tech companies to do their part too.”

The Massachusetts Democrat – who’s caught no small amount of flak herself for falsely claiming to be of Native American heritage, bizarrely claiming she was fired because she was pregnant, and accusing fellow candidate Bernie Sanders of telling her a woman couldn’t win the election – says she’s taking aim at information she says is designed to curb voter turnout, particularly among minorities.

Warren was a big vague on the details when it comes to exactly what punishments she’s proposing for alleged violators – or, of course, the exact definition of “false information.”

She was not vague, however, when it came to her motivations for her unclear plans.

“Anyone who seeks to challenge and defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 election must be fully prepared to take on the full array of disinformation that foreign actors and people in and around the Trump campaign will use to divide Democrats, suppress Democratic votes, and erode the standing of the Democratic nominee. And anyone who seeks to be the Democratic nominee must condemn the use of disinformation and pledge not to knowingly use it to benefit their own candidacy or damage others.”

(Cover Photo: Gage Skidmore)

 

 

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