New Draft Bill to Regulate Fake News

On May 6, 2020, Bill S-0848/2020 (the “Bill”) was introduced before the Argentine Congress, which intends to protect and defend individuals who are victims or have been affected by fake news publications or hate speech ("Illegal Content") on social media platforms, whether the affected person is a user of the service or not. The fundamental aims of the Bill point to the need, due to the appearance of technology and the easy dissemination of information, to contain, minimize and eliminate the impact that Illegal Content has on individuals.

The Bill is aimed at social media service providers with more than one million users or consumers and that are designed to publish and/or share content on internet platforms. The Bill excludes its obligations to journalistic or editorial content platforms, platforms intended for personal use between private parties, and social media service providers with less than one million users.

The obligations set for those obliged by the Bill are:

1. the enablement of an effective and accessible procedure for receiving complaints about publications considered to be Illegal Content;
2. the elimination or blockade of publications from their platforms, according to the terms of the Bill; and
3. the creation of a control body denominated Panel of Experts to evaluate the complaints received and to carry out the necessary measures to comply with the Bill.

The Panel of Experts will carry out the following functions: (i) evaluating and determining if the publications falls within what is considered Illegal Content; (ii) receiving and evaluating complaints; (iii) creating a file, register or database of complaints; (iv) control the compliance with the Personal Data Protection Law N° 25.326 of the personal data included in subsection (iii).

Furthermore, the Bill introduces the obligation to perform an annual report if more than 50 complaints were received during a one-year period. Said report must be published on the social media website and shall be governed by the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Law N° 25.326. The annual report must include: (i) the complaints received, clarifying whether they were carried out by a physical or legal person; (ii) the blocked or deleted publications, including dismissed complaints; (iii) the time elapsed between the receipt of the complaint and the measures adopted; (iv) the resolution process adopted; and, (v) the evaluation criteria of the Panel of Experts.

To conclude, the Bill provides that non-compliance with the obligations of the Bill can result in sanctions consisting of prosecutions, fines and suspensions, beyond any civil or criminal liability that may result applicable from non-compliance.