Information & Communications Technology Law: Platform Liability, Hate Speech and The Fundamental Right to Free Speech

ABSTRACT In contemporary society, the rise of social media has dramatically transformed the sharing of information, bypassing traditional editorial and governmental controls. This shift has enabled rapid global information sharing but also raised concerns about the influence of social media platforms, even in democratic societies. Legislative responses, such as Germany’s Network Enforcement Act of 2017, […]

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law: Article 17 Free Speech and the Guillotine — The Countdown to Lenis v Greece

By Natalie Alkiviadou Abstract This article explores the evolution of Article 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights from its inception as a safeguard against totalitarian regimes to its contemporary application in the suppression of hate speech. The formulation of key issues around the paper’s discussion is prompted by the 2023 case of Lenis […]

Article: Speech that Isn’t Mine: Obligations Under the European Court of Human Rights

Access article By Natalie Alkiviadou Accepted: 13 October 2023 Abstract In 2023, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued its ruling in the case of Sanchez v France. The case revolved around the conviction of the applicant, a politician, for inciting hatred or violence against people due to their religious affiliation. […]

Article: Freedom of Expression and Social Conflict

Authors Christian Bjørnskov, Jacob Mchangama The association between freedom of expression – freedom of speech and the freedom of the media – and social conflict is theoretically ambiguous and politically highly contested. On one side of the debate, people argue that freedom of speech and freedom of the media create social conflict by giving people and […]

Case law on Hate Speech: The Enduring Question of Thresholds

This report sets out the trends and practices across regional and international institutions in relation to their approach towards and handling of hate speech. To do so, it relies on the database of the Global Freedom of Expression initiative at Columbia University and the database of the Future of Free Speech Project (Justitia). It aims […]

Case Law Collection: Internet shutdowns in international law

By Joan Barata and Andrei Richter This paper contributes to the discussions surrounding the internet and the challenges of its regulation. It is divided into two parts. Part one documents the international standards that have emerged pertaining to internet shutdowns, and part two explores the relevant case law at the national and international levels. The […]

Article: The Internet, Internet Intermediaries and Hate Speech – Freedom of Expression in Decline?

By Natalie Alkiviadou Abstract This paper looks at the developments of hate speech regulation online, specifically its horizontalization, with private companies increasingly ruling on the permissibility levels of speech, placing the right to free speech at peril. To elucidate issues at stake, the paper will look at the meaning of hate speech, the online landscape […]

International journal of Human Rights: Artificial intelligence and online hate speech moderation

Justitias Natalie Alkiviadou in International journal of Human Rights “Whilst automated mechanisms can assist human moderators by picking up on potentially hateful speech, they should not be solely responsible for removing hate speech. Biased training data sets, the lack of relevant data and the lack of conceptualization of context and nuance can lead to wrong […]

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law: Special issue on free speech

Volume 35, issue 6, December 2022 Special Issue: Free Speech vs. Hate Speech Issue editors: Jacob Mchangama, Natalie Alkiviadou Access the issue here List of articles in the issue: Editorial Introduction Authors Jacob Mchangama Natalie Alkiviadou Liberating Expression: Contemporary European Challenges Authors Natalie Alkiviadou A Model for Free Speech Authors Daniel Weston Laughing Matters: Humor, […]

South Africa the Model? A comparative Analysis of Hate Speech Jurisprudence of South Africa and The European Court of Human Rights

South Africa the Model? – A Comparative Analysis of Hate Speech Jurisprudence of South Africa and The European Court of Human Rights Abstract We compare the handling of hate speech by the European Court of Human Rights and the highest courts of South Africa: The latter, it turns out, adopts a more robust and well-articulated […]