Covid and fake news, what are the risks of those who spread them?

Fake news about covid, several have been circulating for two years. Most of the fake news goes out after a short time, as soon as the emotional wave of the moment passes (such as that on the damage created to the brain by tampons and poisoning due to insufficient oxygenation caused by the masks) we read on laleggepertutti.it which recalls as the real problem is that many of them are widespread and have convinced many to be skeptical of science and official communications, to the point of refusing vaccines and medical treatment, thus putting their health and their lives at risk . But what is the risk of spreading and spreading false news about Covid? It doesn’t take much to circulate them: it is enough to share a post on social networks or bring them back to a group chat (even if the main social networks, such as Facebook and Instagram, have set up stakes to prevent the circulation of these hoaxes, and in the most serious cases obscure them or warn the user that it is fake news). In reality there is a provision of the Criminal Code which, although dating back to 1930, is still in force and seems to have been designed specifically to prevent this phenomenon: it is a crime that is entitled ‘Dissemination of false and tendentious news’, but in practice it is almost never applied. , to the point that some commentators have spoken of desuetude and tacit repeal of the rule. No recent judgments are found in the legal maxims and this shows how the prosecutors have hesitations in applying it. Let’s see why, and what are its practical limits. Perhaps the pandemic could make this old crime, conceived almost a century ago, current again. What fake news circulating on Covid Among the fake news that have circulated, or still circulate on Covid-19, there are: the Coronavirus does not exist; indeed it exists but it is only a cold or a common form of flu, therefore it is not dangerous; Covid is treated very well at home with herbs, vitamins and common drugs such as tachipirina (or with discoveries not advertised and opposed by official medicine, such as hydroxychloroquine), and even with disinfectants containing bleach, as claimed by former US president Donald Trump); the vaccine contains microchips to control us remotely, with the 5G network, and make us become robots with programmed behaviors; in the serum we they are harmful substances, such as graphene or heavy metals and have magnetic properties (photos of coins attached to the arm of the vaccinated have been circulating for a long time); the vaccine kills, even if not immediately but after some time, and is a tool planned extermination of the population; vaccines have not been tested, therefore they are not safe and are used on people as guinea pigs unaware of the risks they run; vaccines are used to modify the DNA to reprogram the genome in order to modify the characteristics of the human species; the pandemic was planned at the table: it is an invention of Big Pharma (the world organization of pharmaceutical companies) to get rich, or a plot of powers strong (headed by Bill Gates, George Soros and other famous entrepreneurs and financiers) to gain world control over humanity; the Green pass is a regime tool to control travel and establish a health dictatorship; politicians, health workers and VIPs are they are fake vaccinated; vaccinated get sick more than unvaccinated and are more contagious; Covid variants proliferate thanks to vaccines; hospital intensive care units are empty, not full of inpatients as they want us to believe; Covid deaths are bogus, starting with those from Bergamo transported by military trucks, and all official statistics are altered: the deaths occurred for the most various causes, including natural ones, are falsely attributed to the Coronavirus to keep the alarm high. Fake news: civil and criminal liability The dissemination of false information on Covid-19 and on the therapies to prevent and treat it can give rise to liability for illegal acts provided for by art. 2043 of the Civil Code, from which the obligation to pay compensation arises. Think of those who, posing as a scientific informant, propose to the public false anti-Covid therapies, which at best are ineffective and at worst can cause serious illnesses or even the death of those who decide to take them, as an alternative to official treatment. At the criminal level, the speech is more complex. If the “target” of the fake news is a certain clearly identifiable person – for example, a mayor who has adopted restrictive measures in his territory, a family doctor or a vaccinator – and he is falsely attributed conduct that is reprehensible and harmful to his honor and of his reputation, the crime of defamation, aggravated by advertising (art. 595 of the Italian Criminal Code), is borne by those who spread the news. When, on the other hand, the news is addressed to the general public, or to a wide circle of people (for example, Covid patients, or the vaccinated) there can be the crime of spreading false and biased news. The crime of disseminating false and biased information Art. 656 of the Criminal Code provides that “Anyone who publishes or disseminates false, exaggerated or biased information, for which public order may be disturbed, is punished, if the fact does not constitute a more serious crime, with arrest for up to three months or with a fine of up to € 309 “. Publishing and disseminating means making certain information public and this can be done through any media and information channel: television, newspapers, other printed media (such as posters posted on the walls), Internet sites, videos on YouTube. The publication and dissemination can also take place through social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, or through group chats, such as those on WhatsApp and Telegram. These tools make everyone potential creators of news, or diffusers, through sharing, of news already published. untrue news, that is, those that are contrary to the truth established and commonly accepted in the context of reference, such as that affirmed by the scientific community at a given historical moment; news that, even if true at root, are inflated, emphasized , manipulated and distorted in their content, their scope and their implications; the news that is exploited to create an unjustified clamor and worry the public opinion is tendentious.The crime we are examining also has these important characteristics: it can be committed by ‘anyone’, therefore not only by journalists or media outlets; it is an instant and mere crime with learned, i.e. it is perfected with the publication or dissemination of the news, without the need for any further element; the news must be expressed in terms of certainty or very high probability: opinions, interpretations, evaluations and comments are not punishable, on the other hand doubts about certain events that have occurred; it is necessary that the false, exaggerated or tendentious news cause a disturbance of public order. It is not necessary that it be actually upset, the concrete danger of this occurring is enough; therefore a false news to the point of appearing at first sight ridiculous and incredible does not constitute a crime; being a contravention, it is not necessary that the conduct be committed intentionally, but guilt is sufficient (even if in practice to disturb public order the voluntariness and intentionality of the agent’s behavior is required) .We wondered if this severe rule collides with the freedom of expression of thought sanctioned by art. 21 of the Constitution, but the Constitutional Court, questioned on this point, said no and declared the question unfounded: the protection of this right cannot extend to the point of sacrificing another constitutionally protected good, such as public order. Dissemination of false and tendentious news on the Covid-19 pandemic Wanting to adapt these criteria to the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to understand if and when the dissemination of false and tendentious news is criminally punishable, it must be borne in mind that there is no jurisprudential precedent in this regard: so far the judges have not pronounced themselves and there is not even any news of indictments formulated by the Public Prosecutors. Generally speaking, it could be argued that: alarmist and unscientific news that claims vaccines are unsafe and dangerous to human health is false, as is the one that claims that vaccination is administered in hospitals or hubs to patients substances harmful to their health (for this reason those who republish news from others must take care to verify, as far as possible, the reliability of the source); the news that attributes the death of a dead person with certainty to the anti-Covid vaccination a few days after practicing it, without this being found in studies, medical records or autopsy, is exaggerated; the news that the lockdown, quarantine, color zones and other restrictive measures have been introduced without real need , but only to arbitrarily and illegitimately control the population in its movements and displacements, it is tendentious. of the law currently being examined by Parliament aims to introduce in the Criminal Code, in art. 656 bis, the new crime hypothesis of ‘Publication or dissemination through IT platforms of false and unscientific health information’, which provides for a series of obligations for site and social media managers, in order to prevent the proliferation of fake news about Covid-19. The offense of procured alarm In addition to the offense we have examined, there is also another incriminating rule that could apply to these cases and which, unlike the previous one, has already found practical application on many occasions during the pandemic: it is the offense of procured alarm, provided for by art. 658 of the Criminal Code against “anyone who, announcing disasters, accidents or non-existent dangers, raises alarms from the Authority, or from bodies or people who exercise a public service”. The penalty is imprisonment for up to 6 months or a fine from 10 to 516 euros. In this crime, however, the recipient of the news is not directly public opinion, but the public authority, or its representatives, false communication is addressed. The purpose of the standard is to prevent law enforcement, health services and other public officials from being distracted from their duties due to false alarms created on purpose.