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• ’The more speech, the better’: Review of the Book of András Koltay on New Media and Freedom of Speech

  Gergely Gosztonyi

  Views:

  251

  At first glance, the new book of András Koltay seems to be a translation of his recently published volume, New Media and Freedom of Expression: Rethinking the Constitutional Foundations of the Public Sphere (Hart International, 2019). Therefore, one would expect that the work itself does not provide any new information to those who already know the original in English. That could not be less true. As we get to the bottom of this false impression, the review shows the many virtues and minor mistakes of the book.

• Likeness of Police Officers: Freedom of the Press and the Right to Facial Likeness at the Crossroads of Civil and Fundamental Rights

  110-128

  Zoltán Tóth J.

  Views:

  161

  The Constitutional Court of Hungary, proceeding in its new competence regarding the „real” constitutional complaint obtained from 1 January 2012, is allowed to adjudicate the motions initiated against concrete judicial decisions which are deemed to be contrary to the Fundamental Law of Hungary. Within this procedure the Constitutional Court places the protection of the freedom of expression and freedom of the press above the protection of personality rights. The Court consistently annuls judicial decisions that declare infringement of personality rights on grounds that a press agency published recognizable facial likeness of police officers being on duty during demonstrations. The present paper analyses the course during which the Constitutional Court does enforce the constitutional requirements elaborated in its former practice and, thereby, repeals the ordinary courts’ decisions if those favour the personality rights of police officers over the freedom of the press.

• One step back. The Hungarian Constitutional Court’s decision about the Liability of Commenting on the Internet

  142-150

  Éva Balogh

  Views:

  167

  Restrictions on the freedom of expression have been subject to mixed and constant debates. The debates are increasing in the case of free speech on the internet. In the recent past the Hungarian Constitutional Court had to examine this problem and contribute to the discourse. This article presents decision 19/2014 of the Hungarian Constitutional Court concerning the freedom of expression on the internet. The subject-matter of the case was the liability for the comments. The study intends to show the arguable points of the Court’s reasoning.

• Censorship as a Tool Against State Disinformation: Media Freedom Implications of the Russian-Ukrainian War

  András Koltay

  Views:

  54

  Disinformation campaigns originating from Russia have been frequently debated in recent years. Disinformation also plays a major role in the Russian–Ukrainian war that started in February 2022. The issue has been on the agenda in the European Union in recent years, so it is not surprising that among the many sanctions the EU introduced against Russia, action against disinformation was also added. This paper sets out to describe the previously unprecedented ban on Russian media service providers, including the problems the provision creates for freedom of expression. In particular, it will examine the content of the Decision and the Regulation, which prohibited the distribution of the Russian media outlets concerned and the consequences of the EU legislation. It will then go on to critically analyse the provisions from the perspective of freedom of expression, and finally, the relevant judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

• Minority Rights and the European Court of Human Rights

  138-160

  Csenge Merkel

  Views:

  166

  This paper aims to present the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding minorities’ rights. Even though minority rights as such are not listed in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the ECtHR has developed an evolving minority rights protection under it. This paper describes the concrete cases of minority rights protection and shows how the case law evolved throughout the years. The ECtHR recognized the right to self-identification, the right to culture, the right to use minority languages, the right of assembly and the freedom of expression regarding minorities. This paper argues that there might be a shift towards a greater diversity protection in the future under the ECHR.
  

• Facebook files – is Hate Speech Deleted? The Human Rights As- pects of Content Control of Social Media Platforms

  115-136

  Krisztina Nagy

  Views:

  460

  The internet intermediaries, such as services like Google and Facebook became important actors who can influence the media supply through the personalised information flow tailored by their own algorithms and due to the content moderation of their own platforms. These services have exceeded their previous activities which were merely of an intermediary scope and this change affects substantially the fulfilment of international human rights standards. The article analysed first and foremost the operation of the internet intermediaries, especially of the social media platforms from the freedom of expression point of view. It seeks answers to the question to what extent does the moderation of the user generated content on the platforms, i.e. removing and blocking contents which do not comply with the terms and conditions of the platforms, comply with the requirements of the restriction of human rights. Based on the analysis of Facebook’s own regulatory framework, it evaluates content moderation activity on hate speech on the platform in the context of human rights. It points out the guarantees of human rights which are missing from the content control mechanisms of Facebook.