Media outlets will be punished for readers' negative comments about officials if they are not removed within 3 days: draft law adopted

The Verkhovna Rada has adopted draft law No. 11321, which specifies the punishment for online media outlets for “failing to remove” negative comments about officials under news.

This is reported by the Judicial and Legal Newspaper, and Censor.NET informs.

The initiator of the draft law was the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech Yaroslav Yurchyshyn.

Thus, the norm of Article 117 of the Law “On Media” was clarified.

It establishes that online media entities are exempt from liability for the dissemination of false information, as well as information prohibited from dissemination by Articles 36, 42 and 119 of this Law, if such information was disseminated by users in sections for commenting or posting user publications on the website or web page of such media, provided that the online media entity has restricted access to such information within 3 working days from the date of receipt of the relevant complaint or instruction of the National Council or the resolution on the opening of relevant proceedings by the court.

The media must delete the comments within 3 days from the date of receipt of the resolution court. A significant number of officials call information that contains a negative character about them unreliable.

Previously, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court recognized that negative information is considered unreliable if the person who spread it does not prove the opposite.

Also, according to the amendments introduced by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn's bill, the media will be exempted from liability if they gave the words of the speaker-official not only verbatim, but also in a “retelling without distorting the essence”.

Currently, the media are exempted from the risk of paying money by court decision if such reproduction is verbatim.