Fight against Disinformation in Ukraine: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

The material presents the analysis of the draft law of Ukraine On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Ensuring National Information Security and the Right of Access to Reliable Information . This law can for the first time in the history of the country criminalize journalists for disseminating false information and set up new forms of control over information in the future. This is not the first attempt by the countrys leadership to bring all actors into a legal and civilized channel (the draft law On the Media No. 2693, which is also under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stands for the systematic policy of reforming the media sector of Ukraine). The research is aimed at defining the place of the draft law in the reformed system of legal regulation of the Ukrainian media, from the position of the academic community neutral to the process. For this purpose, a detailed content analysis was conducted, which showed that, in the long run, the ambiguous wording of the adopted document at the stage of its enforcement, leaves the regulatory authorities free to interpret it depending on the interests of the parties, rather than on the language of the law. Considering the risks associated with the entry into force of this draft, one should also take into account the ambiguous reaction of the local and international media community. The article may be considered as a contribution to the development of criteria for a comprehensive scientific analysis of the legislation regulating the activity of media structures.