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On 6 September 6 2016, a new report by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression was submitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations. This report gives an explanation of some of the critical contemporary challenges for freedom of opinion and expression throughout the world. The context for this explanation is the legal framework set by international human rights law. Moreover, the report shows positive trends for freedom of opinion and expression and finishes providing recommendation for restraining attacks on and promoting...

In December 2015, the District Court of Amsterdam ordered the Dutch public broadcaster PowNed to prevent further broadcasting of a video item. The item featured a Syrian refugee who seemed to express an aversion to homosexuality and talked about a medical problem with his testicles (IRIS 2016-2/21). On 16 August 2016, the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam overturned parts of the judgment. The Court of Appeal separately assessed whether PowNed lawfully broadcasted the video fragment concerning homosexuality next to the fragment about the man’s medical issues. The Court also distinctly evaluated whether...

On 31 August 2016, the District Court of Amsterdam held broadcasting organisation PowNed liable for broadcasting private conversations between former Dutch mayor Onno Hoes and a 24-year-old man he was romantically involved with (for the preliminary decision, see IRIS 2015-10/25). Hoes, at that time the mayor of the Dutch city Maastricht and married for several years, met the man, Robbie Hasselt, a few times during the autumn of 2014. Hoes had been involved in a scandal in 2013, when he was seen kissing another man. For a short period of time, his position as mayor seemed to be in danger, but the...

The High Court has ruled on the liability of internet intermediaries for defamatory posts by third parties on their platforms in the case of Muwema v Facebook Ireland Ltd. The plaintiff, Fred Muwema, a Ugandan lawyer, took issue with three allegedly “highly offensive and defamatory publications” posted on a Facebook page in March 2016. The publications were posted by a person identified only by the pseudonym ‘Tom Voltaire Okwalinga’ (“TVO”). Justice Donald Binchy in the High Court granted the order for disclosure of the identity and location of the person(s) operating the impugned page. However,...

On 14 September 2016, the European Commission published a set of proposals in order to “overhaul” European Union telecoms rules, and “meet Europeans' growing connectivity needs”. These reforms all form part of the Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy (see IRIS 2015-6/3). First, the Commission published a draft directive on establishing the European Electronic Communication Code, which seeks to create a legal framework to ensure the freedom to provide electronic communications networks and services. The draft directive would amend the four current directives that form part of a regulatory...