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In November 2023 the Government approved a national plan to promote media literacy in various sectors of society. Although there is a natural focus on pre-university schools, the document also established guidelines that include informal and lifelong education. The purpose is to enable citizens to better deal with informative content, and to fight misinformation and dissemination of false content. This is the first time a national plan has been launched in this field. Starting with the acknowledgement that there is a deficit in Portugal regarding access to and reading the news, the legislative...

In 2022, the majority of Portuguese broadcasters complied with the pre-determined quota of transmission time for Portuguese, European and independent works. The annual report, prepared by the national Media Regulatory Authority (ERC), points out, however, that the second public broadcaster (RTP2) has failed to meet its obligations in terms of broadcasting Portuguese works in 20% of its transmission time. All of the other free-to-air generalist channels, as well as the generalist pay-TV channels (mainly dedicated to informative services), have fulfilled their obligations. The quotas were...

On 27 October 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on a case between the Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, IP (Film and Audiovisual Media Institute – ICA), which is responsible in particular for granting financial support to cinematographic and audiovisual activities, and NOWO Communications SA, a subscription television operator. This support is funded, inter alia, by the revenue from the annual subscription fee payable by subscription television service operators under Article 10(2) of Law No. 55/2012 and by the tax on the broadcasting of advertisements...

A recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) walks the line between permissible political satire and unlawful sexist hate speech. The ECtHR found that the criminal conviction of a blogger for a series of cartoons that echoed sexist stereotypes amounted to a violation of the blogger’s right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECtHR concluded unanimously that the cartoons in essence referred to an ongoing political debate, criticizing the municipal leadership. In spite of the sexual stereotyping of one...

On 6 April 2022, the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (Portuguese Regulatory Authority for the Media — ERC), issued a decision stating that although on-demand audiovisual operators and services, and video-sharing platforms were both subject to registration with the ERC, only the first were subject to its general regulation and intervention, and to the Transparency Law, as a result of their editorial responsibility. When the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Directive 2018/1808 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 amending Directive...