Good people,

When you argue about government censorship of mis- and dis-information, please up your game. Do not argue "who determines what is and isn't true?" and "nobody knows what the truth is, it's all in the end a matter of opinion." This is a bad argument.

Government have been determining what is and is not true for a very long time now in the judicial branch. Did person X commit a crime or not? You should admit that in some cases, governments need to make a best-effort attempt at determining what is and is not true, but in other cases they don't need to do this and the potential for abuse of power is rife. The judicial system has many mechanisms to prevent abuse of power including innocent until proven guilty, jury of peers, appeals, etc. It is distinctly a-political (in theory). Other branches of government that want to get into the business of censorship do not have such checks and balances.

Election misinformation is no special case. When the NZ Labour government just got caught lying about what National would do if they got into power, did they censor their own advertisements? No. IMHO that is how it should be. We have a right to lie and trick each other. Sure, it's nasty. But that nastiness sticks to the reputation of those doing the lying.

The power to lie, even about elections, is in balance. All sides can and do lie. Any sort of enforcement of censorship by the powers currently in charge tips that balance towards the party currently in charge. And not by a little bit. It makes a mockery of an open democratic free society. We see it, and we counterbalance. Do not vote for those who would usurp power this way.