A new and concerning bill, introduced by Mexican congressman Armando Corona Arvizu from the ruling Morena party, led by communist president Claudia Sheinbaum, has caused strong controversy in Mexico by proposing to censor people for posting memes on social media.
The legislator proposed amending the Federal Penal Code to punish with up to six years in prison and 600 days of fines those who create or share memes, stickers, gifs, or edited videos that could "affect the reputation" or "damage the dignity" of public officials.
The proposal, which has already been dubbed on social media as the "Anti-Meme Law" or "Anti-Sticker Law," seeks to classify these actions as a form of so-called "digital violence," expanding this concept to the political sphere, which has caused concern among broad sectors of Mexican society.
Corona Arvizu argued that technology has become "a tool with the ability to build or damage a person's image in seconds," and that for this reason it is necessary to establish criminal penalties.
