The project that required influencers to have a university degree to be able to talk about specific topics is no longer going. Wilson Soto (Popular Action), legislator who presented the initiative, decided to withdraw it and send it to the archive. As indicated on his social networks, the decision was made “after an exercise of listening and understanding of the moment.” Furthermore, despite the withdrawal, he reiterated that the proposal sought to warn about “a real problem.”
“This decision does not respond to pressure, but to the understanding that this is not the right time to promote the proposal. (…) In recent years, thousands of citizens have been exposed to wrong information, irresponsible advice and dangerous recommendations that directly affect their health, education, security, assets and well-being,” the congressman said in a statement.
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Soto He also mentioned that the debate on the limits to the freedom of expression of media figures on social networks must begin, in order to prevent dangerous or biased content from affecting citizens.
“We cannot ignore that a person with thousands or millions of followers has an enormous capacity to influence sensitive decisions of Peruvian families. (…) I hope that this moment serves to start a serious and necessary debate in the country about the responsibility that comes with influencing large audiences,” he said.
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Influencers criticized Wilson Soto’s law
Several content creators criticized the legislative proposal. Among the most critical voices of the bill presented by the Popular Action congressman, the Victor Caballeroknown in the internet world as “Curwen”. The communicator pointed out that the initiative would not affect his work as a political commentator.
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“They can’t get rid of me. I’m a cockroach. Radioactivity is part of my daily life. They’re not going to be able to get rid of me, there’s no way. Even if they approve a law that says ‘Mr. Víctor Caballero is prohibited from criticizing politicians’, I’m still going to ignore it,” he commented with a laugh on his program Political Brutality.
Fernando Llanosindependent journalist who spreads his content on TikTokconsidered that this initiative works as a thermometer to measure the claims of different political groups. “Politicians like Wilson Soto, who is from Acción Popular, know that a large part of the population is guided by what is said on social networks – like here, for example – to get to know the candidates. And they know that there are many like me who do not want to see the photo of any of these congressmen in the next Congress, because I do not feel represented by any of them. What do you think? That we are not going to talk because we want to?”, he stated.
