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The Hungarian Parliament implemented the AVMSD’s new rules on video-sharing platform services in May. The new rules were incorporated into the e-Commerce Act through Hungarian legislation, thus the rules were not embedded in media regulation, but in the act which implemented the e-Commerce Directive in 2001. In fact, a hybrid solution was created, since the definitions, such as the definition of a video-sharing service platform, were incorporated into the Hungarian Media Act. In the future, the legal framework surrounding video-sharing services is going to be determined by both the Hungarian...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has delivered an important judgment on a politically controversial issue: since 2010, the Hungarian authorities have imposed an obligation on broadcasters to distinguish rigidly between facts and opinions in news and political reporting. In its unanimous judgment in the case of ATV Zrt v. Hungary, the ECtHR found that a ban on referring to the political party Jobbik as ‘far right’ was a violation of a TV station’s right to freedom of expression as guaranteed under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). ATV is...

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has confirmed the conclusion of the chamber judgment in the case Magyar Kétfarkú Kutya Párt v. Hungary (23 January 2018, see IRIS 2018-3/2). The case concerns the use and promotion by a political party of a mobile application (app) which allowed voters to anonymously share photographs of their ballot papers. The Grand Chamber found that a fine for distributing the app had violated the political party’s right to freedom of expression because the interference with the applicant’s right was not ‘prescribed...

In Herbai v. Hungary, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the dismissal of an employee for publishing  articles on a website that could tarnish the reputation of his employer violated the employee’s right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECtHR found that there was an absence of fair balance between the employee's right to freedom of expression and the employer’s right to protect his legitimate business interests, especially as there was no evidence of damage to the business interests of the...

In the case Szurovecz v. Hungary, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that a refusal to grant a journalist access to a reception centre for asylum seekers in Hungary violated his right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECtHR emphasised that newsgathering, including first-hand observation by a journalist reporting on a matter of significant public interest, was an essential part of journalistic research and press freedom. In 2015, the Hungarian journalist Illes Szurovecz, working for the Internet newsportal abcug.hu,...