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On 24 June 2014 the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources published the report of the Internet Content Advisory Group. The Group, which consisted of experts in the fields of child safety and online behaviour, as well as legal, technical and industry experts, and a student representative, considered emerging issues in the area of online content and its general impact on the lives of children and young people (see IRIS 2014-4/22). The Group were asked to consider a number of issues arising for society, and in particular for children and young people, from the dramatic growth in...

In a decision of 8 July 2014 that is yet to be published in full (case no. 7 A 4679/12), the Verwaltungsgericht Hannover (Hanover Administrative Court - VG) ruled that an episode of the RTL television series “Die Super Nanny” broadcast in 2011 breached human dignity. Both the programme itself and trailers for the series repeatedly showed several scenes of brutality in which a single mother shouted at, threatened and hit her children a number of times. In the programme, the “Super Nanny” persuaded the mother to stop treating her children with such extreme violence and to attend a suitable course...

On 10 June 2014, the Council of Electronic Media (“CEM”) published its report on the 2014 European Parliament elections. The Election Code of Bulgaria for the first time requires the identification of both the free of charge political campaigning and the paid forms of political campaigning (Article 179 of the Election Code). The monitoring has demonstrated, as regards TV programmes, that there is a trend to distinguish in a clearer manner paid content from non-paid content. Part of the media service providers (Nova television, bTV, TV 7, Bulgaria on air, Eurocom Tsarevets, bTV Action, TV Plus)...

On 12 May 2014, the Council of the European Union (EU) adopted the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline. As the EU only has a limited set of home-grown standards on freedom of expression, one of the main aims of the Guidelines is to “explain the international human rights standards on freedom of opinion and expression”. Another main aim is to provide “political and operational guidance to officials and staff of the EU Institutions and EU member states for their work in third countries and in multilateral fora as well as in contacts with international organisations, civil society...

On 16 April 2014, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) adopted Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)6 to member States on a Guide to human rights for Internet users (hereafter, “the Guide”). Among the starting premises of the Recommendation are: (i) human rights standards, as elaborated by the Council of Europe, must be upheld on the Internet, and (ii) in safeguarding human rights, states’ obligations include “the oversight of private bodies”. The Recommendation stresses that “human rights, which are universal and indivisible, and related standards, prevail over the general terms and conditions...