ROME -- The radical Five Star Movement’s leader Beppe Grillo has sparked further outrage Wednesday over his proposals about preventing “fake news,” which he published on his internet blog.

 The anti-establishment, anti-corruption Five Star Movement (M5S) leader Grillo called for moves to stop “fake news” being published on television and online and said that M5S is “a guarantee for citizens,” on his internet blog Wednesday.

  Grillo talked about a "new Inquisition" in which he claims antitrust chief Gianni Pitruzzella, former PM Matteo Renzi, PM Paolo Gentiloni, former president Giorgio Napolitano and President Sergio Mattarella were all involved.

 "This way the government decides what is true and what is false on the Internet," Grillo said. The M5S leader thus called for a "popular jury" to weed out fake news from real, saying print and TV media are the main channels of fake news.

 Many critics from right and left said these deliberately polemical statements could be a way of moving attention away from M5S Mayor of Rome Virginia Raggi’s council and the wave of problems it is currently facing.

 Critics argue that the independence of the press is protected by the Italian Constitution and that laws already exist in relation to these issues.

 Enrico Mentana, director of TG La7, has threatened to sue Grillo for his remarks, particularly angered because the TG logo was present in the image used for Grillo’s post denouncing the Italian media. Grillo, on the other hand, said he wants a court to try media organizations.

 Journalist and director of La Repubblica Mario Calabresi said that Italy ranks 77th in terms of freedom of information due to Mafia and organised crime threats to journalists. The Bel Paese also has the highest number of political trials against journalists, La Repubblica reports.

 The Italian magistrate and judge from the European Human Rights Court Vladimiro Zagrebelsky said that fake news did not start with the Internet, although the nature of the web accelerates its spread. He maintains that a popular jury is still not the solution to separate real and fake news.

 nkd