France's 'Fake News' Law Won't Work

French President Emmanuel Macron has decided to strike back against Kremlin-funded election interference. As a presidential candidate, he was targeted by a campaign of fake news and hacking attempts (assumed to be Russian in origin), and he is reported to have taken the affront personally. He is seeking to change the law to fight online fake news, a topic of interest across Western democracies.

It’s a worthy goal in theory, a tricky one in practice. His much awaited fake-news bill, whose details became known this week, is a warning to other regulators that combating fake news is easier said than done.