Following Questionable Election, Honduran Government Debuts New Censorship Law

from the securing-the-cyber-so-future-generations-can-waste-away-in-prison dept

The masterplan for censorship: follow up a highly-questionable election with a "cybersecurity" law granting the government power to shut down critics and dissenting views. That's what's happening in Honduras, following the reinstallation of Juan Orlando Hernandez as president following an election "filled with irregularities."

The new law mandates the policing of "hate speech," as defined by a government that would love to see its critics deprived of an online platform. Whatever the government declares to be hateful must be taken down within 24 hours. Failure triggers fines and third-party platforms will be held responsible for content created by users.

While the new law does not directly target the social media platforms, activists say: "In its current state, it requires any service or website that includes user-generated content to process complaints and remove “hate speech” or discriminatory content within 24 hours."

"Should online intermediaries fail to do so, their services could be fined or blocked. The latest draft of the bill also creates a national cybersecurity committee to receive reports and relay them to websites and companies, and to develop policy strategies on issues ranging from cybercrime to hate speech and fake news," Javier Pallero, Digital Rights activist focusing on the Latin American region explained, according to Access Now.

The threat of $50,000 fines and an impossible timeframe will likely result in proactive policing of content, resulting in removal of posts not covered by the law. Whatever social media companies don't remove ahead of requests will be removed shortly after receiving demands from the Honduran government. Between the two, it's unlikely much dissenting speech will survive. This will be especially effective against local providers and small companies without the legal manpower to fend off Honduran censorship attempts.

The so-called "cybersecurity" law won't make anyone but the government more secure. Anti-government activists have been routinely targeted by the Honduran government, some of which have been jailed indefinitely in violation of Honduran due process laws. Others have experienced more direct physical attacks and/or undergone torture in an attempt to deter them from future criticism. This law does nothing more than attempt to turn social media companies into compliant partners of Honduran government abuse.

The few dissenting voices in Honduras have been amplified by social media platforms. This is what the law aims to take away. In addition to vague guidelines on hate speech, the government is also seeking to punish those who support opposition forces or express sympathy for victims of incarceration, torture, or government-ordained murder.

The law which would severely hamper the media's work includes Article 335-B, under which journalists can be sentenced to eight years in prison for "defending, justifying, or glorifying" terrorism.

The proposed law has been heavily criticized by international human rights organizations, like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) which has warned the bill could be used to "sanction the work of human rights defenders."

Murder isn't an exaggeration. Since Hernandez's reelection, 35 protesters have been killed by government forces and more than 1,000 have been detained. In addition, nighttime raids of alleged anti-government protesters by police forces have become routine, despite the country's laws limiting warrant service to daylight hours.

Any law regulating speech should be examined closely to determine the motivating factor. In some cases, it's more benign -- a misguided attempt to solve a problem that can't be solved through censorship. In other cases, the legislative wording may be benign, but the malicious intent all too apparent. That's the case here and in several other countries, where terms like "cybersecurity," "terrorism," and "hate speech" have been thrown around as a smokescreen for targeted oppression of government critics.

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Filed Under: censorship, cybersecurity, free speech, hate speech, honduras, juan orlando hernandez


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  1. icon
    Coyne Tibbets (profile), 19 Apr 2018 @ 5:28am

    The best excuse, ever

    Sadly, it looks like the world has found an excuse for censorship that literally everyone can get behind.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Stephen T. Stone (profile), 19 Apr 2018 @ 6:01am

    Re: The best excuse, ever

    Well, everyone except Americans. (Save for maybe one notable exception.)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2018 @ 6:50am

    The Nazis of the western hemisphere

    Honduras has a long history of having one of the most corrupt, murderous, literally genocidal governments in the western hemisphere, if not the entire planet. But that's OK, because Honduras has generally been a loyal United States ally fighting "Communists" -- a term traditionally applied to anyone who dares to speak out against the government -- so as with all friends, we look the other way whenever something horrible happens there.

    The School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia (renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) was where generations of Honduran death squad leaders learned their craft, i hate to admit, funded with my tax dollars.

    http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lormand/poli/soa/honduras.htm

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    SAMEER, 19 Apr 2018 @ 6:53am

    Sattamtka

    Hello all my best friend nice Articles very Posting nice for

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2018 @ 7:37am

    Why can't we leave these central american countries alone?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2018 @ 8:21am

    Murder? What murder?

    35 protesters have been killed by government forces

    I'm sure the enforcers "feared for their lives", so it was OK. Even the US Supreme Court supports that these days. /s

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2018 @ 8:26am

    Re: Re: The best excuse, ever

    This guy is backed by the American gov.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Apr 2018 @ 12:08pm

    Re: Murder? What murder?

    Those are just the ones known to have been killed. In Honduras, political dissidents sometimes just disappear, never to be seen again, and no bodies found. Of course everyone knows who did it, the police/"security" forces, but anyone who starts making too much noise about that may disappear next.

    El Salvador next door was even worse, especially throughout the 1970s and 1980s, when even religious missionaries, Catholic nuns, and charity aid workers from the U.S. were all considered fair game by police and paramilitary forces.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/02/el-salvador-churchwomen-murders/460 320/

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2018 @ 1:23am

    The law is supposed to target cyber bullying

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    Coyne Tibbets (profile), 22 Apr 2018 @ 3:13am

    Re: Re: The best excuse, ever

    Obviously you've not been paying attention. There are plenty of Americans who are supporting censorship in order to get rid of fake news.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2018 @ 9:41am

    Terrorist laws to combat "terrorism". Seems legit.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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