The Ministry of Interior Amends a Key Provision to Regulate Digital Content and Protect Election Integrity
The Ministry of Interior presented a new formulation yesterday, Thursday, for Article 51 of the draft organic law concerning the House of Representatives. This move aims to address the controversy sparked by the second paragraph of the article during discussions in the Interior Committee of the House.
The original wording included prison sentences ranging from two to five years and fines between 50,000 and 100,000 dirhams for anyone participating, through any means—including social networks, open broadcasting platforms, artificial intelligence tools, or software systems—in the dissemination or broadcasting of rumors or false news intended to undermine the integrity of the elections.
Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit proposed an alternative formulation stating: “Anyone who, by any digital means, creates content based on false or fabricated material with the intent to harm the integrity and credibility of the electoral process shall be punished with the same penalty.”
Laftit pointed out that the goal of the amendment is to protect candidates from the harm inflicted by fabricated content, especially given the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence tools and social media. He emphasized the need for a legal framework that ensures this protection without resorting to criminal law or press and publication law.
The minister stressed that the text does not target political or press criticism, as freedom of expression is guaranteed. He clarified that the issue at hand is the technical capabilities available to everyone, including minors, to produce manipulated videos and images that could disrupt the electoral process.
Laftit added that the spread of fake content, such as depicting polling stations ablaze or recording acts of violence without truth, necessitates the establishment of preventive measures to avoid promoting such claims.
He confirmed that the primary objective of the article is to safeguard the integrity of the voting process from any misleading digital interventions, asserting that a lack of legislative intervention could present the country with challenges difficult to manage amid the rapid evolution of digital technologies.
