Media will be punished for readers’ negative comments about officials if they are not removed within 3 days: draft law adopted

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Media will be punished for negative comments about officials

The Verkhovna Rada passed draft law No. 11321, which clarified the penalties for online media for "not removing" negative comments about officials under news.

This is reported by the Judicial and Legal Newspaper, Censor.NET informs.

The draft law was initiated by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech.

Thus, Article 117 of the Law "On Media" was clarified.

It stipulates that online media entities are exempt from liability for disseminating inaccurate information, as well as information prohibited by Articles 36, 42 and 119 of this Law, if such information was disseminated by users in the comment sections or user publications on the website or webpage of such media, provided that the online media entity has restricted access to such information within 3 business days of receiving a relevant complaint or order of the National Council or a decision of the

The media outlet must remove the comments within 3 days of receiving the court ruling. A significant number of officials call unreliable information containing negative information about them.

Earlier, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court ruled that negative information is deemed unreliable unless the person who disseminated it proves otherwise.

In addition, according to the changes introduced by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn's bill, the media will be exempt from liability if they quote the words of a speaker-officer not only verbatim, but also in a "paraphrase without distortion of the essence".

Currently, media outlets are exempt from the risk of paying money under a court order if such reproduction is verbatim.

Author: Екатерина Людвик