The perils of legally defining disinformation

EU policy considers disinformation to be harmful content, rather than illegal content. However, EU member states have recently been making disinformation illegal. This article discusses the definitions that form the basis of EU disinformation policy, and analyses national legislation in EU member states applicable to the definitions of disinformation, in light of freedom of expression and the proposed Digital Services Act. The article discusses the perils of defining disinformation in EU legislation, and including provisions on online platforms being required to remove illegal content, which may end up being applicable to overbroad national laws criminalising false news and false information. Issue 4 1. Ronan Fathaigh and Natali Helberger were co-authors of Betzel et al., Notions of Disinformation and Related Concepts (ERGA, 2021). The authors are very grateful to ERGA for the results of the survey conducted.