New legislation in Australia seeks to levy large fines on media companies for sharing ‘misinformation and disinformation.’ But who decides, and what is the impact on the historical record? Our starting point will be two Stoic-related texts from Seneca and Tacitus, concerning Roman Imperial suppression of texts and frank discussions. As Tacitus wrote in 98 CE: ‘Rome of old explored the utmost limits of freedom; we have plumbed the depths of slavery, robbed as we are by informers even of the right to exchange ideas in conversation. We should have lost our memories as well as our tongues had it been as easy to forget as to be silent.’