Media outlets must remove negative comments about officials within three days or face penalties, according to the law.

Media must remove negative comments about officials within three days, or face penalties - law

Online media will be exempt from liability for negative comments made by readers if they delete them within three days of receiving a court ruling, complaint, or National Council directive.

The relevant bill 11321, initiated by the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on January 14.

This is reported by sud.ua.

Thus, the provision of Article 117 of the Law on Media has been clarified. It establishes that entities in the online media sector are exempt from liability for disseminating false information, as well as information whose dissemination is prohibited by Articles 36, 42, and 119 of this Law, if such information was spread by users in sections designated for commenting or posting user publications on the website or webpage of such media, provided that the online media entity restricted access to such information within three business days from the moment of receiving the relevant complaint or directive from the National Council or a court ruling to initiate the corresponding proceedings.

Consequently, a provision has been added to the current version of part 4 of Article 117 stating that media must delete comments within three days from the date of receiving a court ruling.

As indicated by court decisions, a significant number of officials claim that information containing negative connotations regarding them is false.

Moreover, as previously reported by the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper," the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, when reviewing case No. 905/902/20, emphasized that negative information disseminated about an individual is considered false unless the disseminating party proves otherwise (presumption of good faith).

The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court noted that information should be regarded as negative if it asserts that an individual has violated, in particular, the norms of current legislation, or has committed any other actions (for example, violating principles of morality, widely recognized rules of coexistence, unethical behavior in personal, public, or political life, etc.) and which, in the plaintiff's opinion, infringes on their right to respect for dignity, honor, or business reputation (part 3 of Article 277 of the Civil Code).

Therefore, the question arises as to whether online media will need to delete any reader comments that assert corruption or other negative characteristics, for example, regarding officials.

Additionally, according to the changes introduced by the bill of Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, media will be exempt from liability if they quoted a speaker-official not only verbatim but also in a "translation without distorting the essence."

Currently, media are exempt from the risk of paying damages by court decision if such reproduction is verbatim.