Mexican Congresswoman Declares War on Memes

A Mexican lawmaker for the ruling PRI party will present a bill before her state's congress to criminalize the creation and dissemination of memes on social networks.

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Martha Orta Rodriguez suggests a penalty of up to four years in prison and a fine of nearly US$2,000 for those responsible for creating these often humorous and satirical images on the Web.

Orta said she is trying to prevent “harmful" and “humiliating” images from being circulated on the Internet, but unsurprisingly her proposal was not received well online.

A viral campaign of memes has flooded the web in Mexico with all kind of jokes and comments making fun of the lawmaker’s plans to criminalize them.

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Orta Rodriguez belongs to the most conservative wing of the PRI party in the north-central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi.

The criticisms against her proposal have been fueled by the fact that the state she represents has more than 2.3 million people living in poverty.

Residents believe that lawmakers should be addressing other issues rather than being worried about what people do with memes on the Internet.