Mexico withdraws plan to regulate religious speech online after strong pushback from church leaders
The Mexican government has withdrawn a controversial bill that sought to regulate religious content on social media and digital platforms.
Federal Deputy Arturo Ávila Anaya of the ruling Morena Party announced the decision that came after a strong wave of criticism from Evangelical leaders, the Mexican Bishops' Conference and various church organizations, who considered the proposal an attack on freedom of religion and expression, Diario Cristiano Internacional. reported.
The rectification was confirmed by Ávila himself after a meeting with representatives of eight religious associations. Pastor Gilberto Rocha Margain of the Calacoaya Christian Center posted a video celebrating the decision: "That initiative that seemed so feared by everyone, the deputy has kindly offered to withdraw it and collaborate with us in search of religious freedom."
For his part, Ávila recognized the need for a deeper dialogue on the issue.
"We agree that the digital challenges of our times make an in-depth debate necessary to strengthen the secular state and fully guarantee religious freedom," the deputy said in a post on X. He announced that analysis tables will be created to build a consensual regulatory framework.
The initiative, presented on Oct. 28, proposed modifying the Law of Religious Associations so that ministers of worship would be subject to the guidelines of the future Agency for Digital Transformation and Telecommunications, supposedly to "guarantee respect ... and the prevention of hate speech."
However, the proposal was seen by critics as an attempt at censorship. For Carlos Alberto Castellanos Morales, a specialist in constitutional law, the law would have created a "censorship regime."
"They did not measure the scope of what they proposed. No church sends a message of violence. This initiative violates international standards. In a democratic system, human rights must be respected," Castellanos said.
The mobilization on social networks was decisive, with believers using phrases such as "Stop censorship" and "telling the truth and exposing sin is not a message of hate." Analysts agreed that the withdrawal of the initiative stopped a political crisis, with society and faith leaders uniting to say that "no government can be an arbiter of faith."
