ECtHR: Top court ruling on websites’ liability for user comments breaches freedom of speech

Strasbourg, February 2 (MTI) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Tuesday said a decision by the Constitutional Court stating that web portals are fully liable for comments left by their readers violated freedom of expression.

In May of 2014 the Constitutional Court threw out a complaint filed by the Association of Hungarian Content Providers against a ruling by Hungary’s supreme court, the Kuria, saying that websites are liable for any derogatory comments made by their readers.

The case goes back to real estate agency Experient filing complaints over derogatory comments made against it by readers of online news portal Index and the Association of Hungarian Content Providers. The comments on the respective websites were deleted, but Experient took legal action and the case made it to the supreme court.

The ECtHR said the websites were not liable for the user comments and that the Constitutional Court’s earlier ruling was in breach of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court ordered the state of Hungary to pay 5,100 euros in legal fees to the petitioners within three months.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters