Reuters The Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant in Washington was the target of a fake news campaign alleging that it harbored a child sex ring run in part by Hillary Clinton.Concern about the proliferation of disinformation, misinformation and propaganda has reached the point where many governments are proposing new legislation and regulation. But the solutions on offer reflect an inadequate understanding of the problem — and could have negative, unintended consequences. This past June, Germany’s parliament adopted a law that includes a provision for fines of up to €50 million ($59 million) on popular sites like Facebook FB, +0.02%and YouTube GOOGL, +0.00% if they fail to remove “obviously illegal” content, such as hate speech and incitements to violence, within 24 hours. Singapore has announced plans to introduce similar legislation next year to tackle fake news.via