Saudi Arabia declares online satire punishable offence

submitted by magnora7 from france24.com

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[–]useless_aether 3 insightful - 4 fun3 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

the better the joke, the harsher the punishment

[–]magnora7[S] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Saudi Arabia will punish online satire that "disrupts public order" with up to five years in prison, the public prosecutor said Tuesday, as the kingdom cracks down on dissent.

"Producing and distributing content that ridicules, mocks, provokes and disrupts public order, religious values and public morals through social media ... will be considered a cybercrime punishable by a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of three million riyals ($800,000)," the public prosecution tweeted late Monday.

Horrendously restrictive new laws, announced by tweets. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad.

Plus wasn't this supposed to be the new Saudi government that was "cleaning house" and starting to divorce Saudi away from the hyper-religious attitudes? What happened to that?

[–]Mnemonic 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

And soon 'telling the truth' becomes 'satire'.

[–]magnora7[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Exactly.

[–]exPFCwintergreen 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Why is this man laughing?

And the UK has just made memes illegal. What a joke.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

UK? Got a link?

[–]exPFCwintergreen 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

You are keeping me honest. Memes are illegal in Australia but not yet in the UK. I got a bit overzealous because saidit is so much better than the alternatives.

Oz: https://www.news.com.au/why-creating-memes-is-illegal-in-australia/news-story/bf35da7cc64cf2da9cbf2fb0843262af

On the EU link, the last twitter says: "Australian Parliament passed a bill today [June 18, 2018] making it a criminal offense to impersonate a member of parliament. This includes comedians doing satire...."

EU: https://twitter.com/wireduk/status/1008658089963347968

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks for the updated info! From 2013, wow. I wonder how that's working out for them.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

MBS is a Cysmale.