{ "title": "Ladder: official labels", "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/disinformation_labeling", "filters": {}, "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.", "tactic": { "slug": "disinformation_labeling", "name": "Official labels", "definition": "A government officially brands a news outlet or a journalist as a source of disinformation or \"fake news\", or requires it to register as an agent of another country. Such labels often carry reporting duties and restrictions, and can cost the outlet its audience and advertisers.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/disinformation_labeling" }, "focal_case": "US", "count": 7, "stages": [ { "stage": "pressure", "name": "Pressure", "definition": "Using state power short of prosecution to change coverage: regulatory threats, licence reviews, funding cuts, lawsuits by officials, official \"fake news\" or \"foreign agent\" labels, advertising pressure, tax audits.", "rungs": [ { "slug": "2025-fcc-carr-news-distortion-complaints-nbc-cbs", "title": "FCC chair reopens 'news distortion' complaints against CBS and NBC", "occurred_on": "2025-01-22", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "pressure", "focal_case": true, "country": "US", "country_name": "United States", "continent": "north-america", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 64, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "donald-trump", "leader_name": "Donald Trump", "what_was_done": "Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr reopened complaints alleging CBS and NBC distorted the news, demanding CBS turn over the full tape and transcript of a 60 Minutes interview and later accusing NBC's parent Comcast of misleading coverage of an immigration case.", "outcome": "ongoing", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The complaints against CBS and NBC remained open, with no formal licensing action announced in the source reviewed.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 1, "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-fcc-carr-news-distortion-complaints-nbc-cbs" }, { "slug": "2023-hungary-sovereignty-protection-act", "title": "Hungary: National Sovereignty Protection Act and Sovereignty Protection Office, December 2023", "occurred_on": "2023-12-20", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "pressure", "focal_case": false, "country": "HU", "country_name": "Hungary", "continent": "europe", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 74, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "viktor-orban", "leader_name": "Viktor Orban", "what_was_done": "On December 20, 2023, the president of Hungary, Katalin Novák, promulgated the National Sovereignty Protection Act, passed by the National Assembly, Hungary's parliament, during the government of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán.", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "2026-06-30", "outcome_note": "The National Assembly abolished the Sovereignty Protection Office on 2026-06-30, according to CPJ (s055).", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 3, "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-hungary-sovereignty-protection-act" }, { "slug": "2024-india-court-strikes-down-fact-check-unit", "title": "Bombay High Court strikes down India's government 'fact check unit' rule", "occurred_on": "2024-03-01", "occurred_on_precision": "month", "stage": "pressure", "focal_case": false, "country": "IN", "country_name": "India", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 157, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "narendra-modi", "leader_name": "Narendra Modi", "what_was_done": "India's 2023 amendment to its Information Technology Rules empowered a government-run Fact Check Unit to label online content about the central government 'fake' or 'false' and require its removal; comedian Kunal Kamra and media groups challenged it, and the Bombay High Court struck the rule down a…", "outcome": "reversed", "outcome_on": "2024-09-20", "outcome_note": "The Bombay High Court struck down the rule, finding its key terms 'vague and overbroad,' after the Supreme Court had already stayed its operation.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "prior_restraint" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-india-court-strikes-down-fact-check-unit" }, { "slug": "2024-georgia-foreign-influence-law", "title": "Georgia enacts 'foreign influence' law requiring media to register as foreign-backed", "occurred_on": "2024-05-28", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "pressure", "focal_case": false, "country": "GE", "country_name": "Georgia", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 135, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 135th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "irakli-kobakhidze", "leader_name": "Irakli Kobakhidze", "what_was_done": "Georgia's parliament passed a law requiring media and civil-society groups that receive 20 percent or more of their funding from abroad to register as organizations \"serving the interests of a foreign power,\" over mass street protests and international criticism that the label would be used to marg…", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The law took effect despite mass protests and international criticism; the governing party did not withdraw it.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 1, "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-georgia-foreign-influence-law" }, { "slug": "2026-russia-new-law-targets-exiled-journalists-assets", "title": "Russia: law on asset freezes and service denials for exiled \"foreign agents\", August 2026", "occurred_on": "2026-08-04", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "pressure", "focal_case": false, "country": "RU", "country_name": "Russia", "continent": "europe", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 172, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin", "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin", "what_was_done": "On August 4, 2026, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed a law, adopted unanimously by the Russian parliament on July 24, 2026, that allows the authorities to freeze bank accounts, block property and vehicle sales and deny consular services such as passport renewal to Russians in exile wh…", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2026-08-04", "outcome_note": "Signed and in force on 2026-08-04, according to RSF (s062).", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 3, "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "funding_and_ownership_pressure" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-russia-new-law-targets-exiled-journalists-assets" } ] }, { "stage": "punish", "name": "Punish", "definition": "Legal or physical action against individual journalists or sources: subpoenas and record seizures, prosecutions, arrests, detention, expulsions, visa denials, assault where a government actor is involved.", "rungs": [ { "slug": "2025-pakistan-amends-peca-cybercrime-law", "title": "Pakistan amends cybercrime law to create new agency policing 'fake' online content", "occurred_on": "2025-01-29", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "punish", "focal_case": false, "country": "PK", "country_name": "Pakistan", "continent": "asia", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 153, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 153rd of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "shehbaz-sharif", "leader_name": "Shehbaz Sharif", "what_was_done": "Pakistan's parliament amended the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act to create a new Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority with power to block online content and a Social Media Protection Tribunal, and made spreading information deemed 'fake or false' punishable by up to three years in…", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "The amendment remained law despite nationwide journalist protests and a Human Rights Watch call for its repeal.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "disinformation_labeling", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "outlet_licensing" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-pakistan-amends-peca-cybercrime-law" } ] }, { "stage": "eliminate", "name": "Eliminate", "definition": "Long imprisonment, killing, disappearance or forced exile of journalists, with state involvement as the sources state it.", "rungs": [ { "slug": "2023-nicaragua-strips-journalists-citizenship", "title": "Nicaragua strips 94 political opponents, including journalists, of citizenship", "occurred_on": "2023-02-15", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "stage": "eliminate", "focal_case": false, "country": "NI", "country_name": "Nicaragua", "continent": "north-america", "rsf": { "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index", "year": 2026, "rank": 168, "of": 180, "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 168th of 180", "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index" }, "leader_slug": "daniel-ortega", "leader_name": "Daniel Ortega", "what_was_done": "A Nicaraguan appeals court stripped 94 government opponents, including exiled journalists Carlos Fernando Chamorro and Alvaro Navarro, of their citizenship, days after President Daniel Ortega released 222 political prisoners to the United States and immediately declared them stateless too.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": null, "outcome_note": "Citizenship was not restored to those named; Ortega's government continued comparable actions against critics afterward.", "ladder_note": null, "sources_count": 2, "tactic_primary": "expulsion_and_visa_denial", "tactics": [ "disinformation_labeling", "expulsion_and_visa_denial" ], "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-nicaragua-strips-journalists-citizenship" } ] } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/disinformation_labeling?format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/disinformation_labeling.json", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/disinformation_labeling.md" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }