The fight against so-called “fakes” has to be precautionary and well-planned. This is what Director of the National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan told journalists on 4 April, touching upon the assignment that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gave during the government session to give a coarse counterattack to fake users manipulating public opinion on social media websites.

“If there is a fake or ordinary person in the comments and there is no corpus delicti, law-enforcement authorities can’t take any action. If there is corpus delicti, the National Security Service and other law-enforcement authorities are obliged to respond and take relevant measures to prevent and reveal the crime. Freedom of expression will not be violated in any case,” Vanetsyan said.

When asked what Pashinyan meant by ‘manipulations’, Vanetsyan said the following: “The comments and expressions or the topics spread by anonymous users on social media websites can set the mood in the public and may lead to certain consequences.”

Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am had reported that during the April 4 government session, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had said that certain criminal circles are spending millions to manipulate public opinion in the media and on social media websites and that this is a matter of national security and gave an assignment to Director of the National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan. “I hope your Service manages to achieve results in regard to this issue. Even on social media websites there are even fakes that present themselves as people who participated in the revolution and are making calls for violence, and they even address government officials to show that this is linked to the revolution. There has to be a coarse counterattack to this. I believe the legislation of the Republic of Armenia provides the opportunity for that, but of course, without questioning the right of freedom of speech and expression. This is a thin red line that we can’t cross.”