Criminalizing Coronavirus : related April fools' pranks

Abstract EN

Each beginning of April, people pracise jokes, hoaxes and harmless pranks everywhere, but this tradition has become a subject of criticism, where supporters see an entertainment, and opponents who slammed it as disturbing and deceptive behavior which must be abolished and banned.

This year, April's fools coincided with a large spread of the Corona virus, which may increase the damage caused by those pranks, which was a strong motivation towards the suggestions to completely cancel and ban this bad tradition, for that there were initiatives from companies and organizations.

In support of these initiatives, several countries have banned jokes and pranks related to corona virus, such as India and Taiwan; the latter explicitly threatened by prison terms to those who spread harmful rumors, then Algeria, which has realized the matter with the latest penal code draft amendment.