Ministry of Internal Affairs Warns: Responsibility for Spreading Fake Information on the New Constitution

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan has issued a stern warning to citizens regarding an increase in false information concerning the new draft Constitution being circulated on social media and messaging apps.

According to department officials, there has been a rise in provocative and untruthful posts in the digital space. The Ministry reminded the public that while expressing opinions and participating in discussions is not against the law, the deliberate distortion of information and the dissemination of false data are considered legal offenses.

This issue was addressed at the government level. On February 2, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov held a special meeting where he ordered the immediate identification and prosecution of individuals spreading distorted, provocative information during the discussion of the new Constitution. Coordination of these efforts has been assigned to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and Information, Aida Balayeva.

As a reminder, the draft of the new Constitution, consisting of 11 sections and 95 articles, was published on the official government website on January 31. On that same day, the first case of spreading false information was recorded in Almaty. The Almaty Administrative Court found resident Marat Abdirakhmanov guilty under Article 256-2 of the Administrative Code and imposed a fine of 86,500 tenge.

Competent authorities urge citizens to rely only on official sources of information and to refrain from sharing unverified data.