‘Fake News’ Law curbing internet speech shocks Jordanians. Will king step in?

August 1, 2023

By Taylor Luck

AMMAN- Jordan, long a West-friendly outlier in a troubled region, may soon have the most restricted internet and speech in the Arab world.

A cybercrime law that conservative elements in the king’s hand-picked government introduced just last month – and are pushing quickly to passage – is being flagged by detractors as a “legislative coup.”

They say it contains vague language that could curb speech and internet freedoms, creating a “throwback to martial law days.”

The legislation was passed by Jordan’s Parliament last week and by the unelected Senate, which made minor revisions, on Tuesday. It is expected to land on the monarch’s desk by early next week, a pen stroke away from becoming law.

By threatening to sabotage King Abdullah’s promised democratic reforms, the legislation is placing the monarch at the center of Jordanians’ struggle for rights and freer speech.

How he responds will be for many liberal Jordanians the final word on whether Jordan is heading toward democratic reform or full autocracy.

Although Jordanians are barred from insulting the king in public, they have enjoyed the freedom to criticize and lampoon king-appointed governments and public officials, freedoms that grew with the spread of the internet and social media over the past 15 years and were taken for granted by many as a right.

New government tool

The draft cybercrime law is an update of an existing law and provides the government with new tools it says it needs to protect the kingdom from hacking, cyberterrorism, cyberbullying, and pornography.

In interviews with local media, the king-appointed Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh has pledged that the law will not curb freedoms and serves to “protect the public,” insisting the government is open to criticism.

But, legal experts warn, that criticism may soon land you in jail.

Several articles in the 40-article bill deal with online expression, criminalizing – without defining – such things as “fake news,” “character assassination,” “hate speech,” and “contempt of religions.”

If the legislation is signed into law, anyone could be held criminally liable for posting, reposting, or “liking” speech the government deems to fit these categories. The law holds individuals legally responsible for comments left by others on their posts, social media pages, or websites – even on past posts that others flag anew.

The law gives the government the authority to detain a suspect for up to a year before trial.

Mohammad Qteishat, a legal expert and former director of the Jordan Media Commission, which regulates the media, says the law is an assault on speech and expression “in violation of the Jordanian constitution.”

“The text is very flexible. You cannot find explanations for these terms in the law,” says Mr. Qteishat, who terms the law a tool for widening government authority.

“This will protect the government, the prime minister, and governmental departments from criticism,” he says, “and gives the general prosecutor the ability to sue anyone who criticizes the government.”

As of this writing, it is not clear whether this article would be criminalized.

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