Each theme contains useful resources for lawyers on freedom of expression, click below to get started.
An overview of the multi-faceted right to freedom of expression and how it is protected under international law.
Understanding digital rights is crucial to protecting human rights, as little of our lives today is immune from the forces of technology and the internet.
An overview of the ways in which access to the internet and online content are restricted around the world.
An overview of freedom of expression issues in the law, including how defamation is treated in domestic and international law.
An overview of the right to privacy, data protection, and protecting freedom of expression in a digital world.
Describes the different types of cybercrimes, tracks the trends, and evaluates how cybercrimes are dealt with in international law.
An overview of hate speech and how it is dealt with both under domestic and international law.
An overview of the ways in which access to content and freedom of expression online are restricted by private actors.
An overview of false news, misinformation and propaganda, including causes and potential solutions..
An overview of the various rights and concepts which encompass digital rights.
In order to uphold freedom of expression, there is a need for clear and narrowly circumscribed definitions of ‘hate speech,’ which do not conflate it with speech that is offensive.
View this themeThe Constitutional Court of South Africa declared a provision in South Africa’s Equality Act unconstitutional on the basis that it infringed the right to freedom of expression as the provision’s use of the word “hurtful” was found to be vague.
The Austrian Supreme Court ruled that Facebook must remove all postings worldwide containing hate speech about an Austrian politician.
In a discovery request, the US District Court held that Facebook must disclose de-platformed content and internal investigation documents relating to the incitement of ethnic hatred against the Rohingyas in Myanmar.
The Constitutional Court of South Africa held that a provision creating criminal liability for hate speech was unconstitutional, holding that hate speech must be both harmful or incite harm and promote hatred.
The Constitutional Court of South Africa held that a provision criminalising incitement to “any offence” was overly broad and an infringement of the right to freedom of expression.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights confirmed that there must be a legitimate reason for the limitation of right and that the limitation must be proportionate and necessary.
The Constitutional Court of South Africa found that most disparaging statements made about “Zionism” were not targeted at members of the Jewish faith or ethnicity and did not constitute hate speech, while one of the statements did.
The African Court overruled the conviction and harsh penalties levied on a journalist for defamation relating to news articles alleging corruption of a state prosecutor, and found that the conviction was a disproportionate interference with the journalist’s right to freedom of expression.
The European Court of Human Rights found that the convictions and sentencing of an author and publisher on charges of disseminating propaganda against the indivisibility of the state were disproportionate to the aims pursued, and there not necessary in a democratic society.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights found that a professor’s right to freedom of expression had been violated when the state deported Mr Good on national security grounds for the publication of an article critical of Botswana’s presidential succession.