The right to freedom of opinion and expression exercised through the Internet 2011, para. 40
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- In other cases, intermediary liability is imposed through privacy and data protection laws. For example, a court in Italy convicted three Google executives for violating the Italian data protection code after a video depicting cruelty to a disabled teenager was posted by a user on the Google video service. Even though the video was taken down within hours of notification by Italian law enforcers, the judge found the Google executives guilty. The Government of China requires ISPs and web platforms to conduct surveillance on their users, and they are also held directly responsible for content posted by users. Companies that fail to comply with this obligation risk losing their business licences. Holding intermediaries liable for the content disseminated or created by their users severely undermines the enjoyment of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, because it leads to self-protective and over-broad private censorship, often without transparency and the due process of the law.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Year
- 2011
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Reference
- SR Freedom of Opinion, Report to the HRC (2011), A/HRC/17/27, para. 40.
- Paragraph number
- 40
sorted by
Date added
77 relationships, 77 entities