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Article

10 Oct 2013

Author:
European Court of Human Rights

[PDF] Making an Internet news portal liable for the offensive online comments of its readers was justified

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In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Delfi AS v. Estonia...the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: No violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned the liability of an Internet news portal for offensive comments that were posted by readers below one of its online news articles. The portal complained that being held liable for the comments of its readers breached its right to freedom of expression. The Court held that the finding of liability by the Estonian courts was a justified and proportionate restriction on the portal’s right to freedom of expression, in particular, because: the comments were highly offensive; the portal failed to prevent them from becoming public, profited from their existence, but allowed their authors to remain anonymous; and, the fine imposed by the Estonian courts was not excessive.