Hello everyone,
We’re writing to share a recent blog post
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/2018/12/12/the-european-court-of-human-rights-affirmed-that-hyperlinking-is-protected-free-expression-heres-why-were-applauding/>
with you about the Magyar Jeti Zrt v. Hungary
<http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-187930> case which was just decided in
the European Court of Human Rights. For those who are unfamiliar with the
case, it began when a Hungarian newspaper posted a hyperlink to an
interview on Youtube which was later judged to be defamatory to a
particular political party. The party successfully sued the newspaper for
hyperlinking to the interview, although the newspaper had neither conducted
the interview nor ratified its contents when it posted the link. After the
Supreme Court in Hungary confirmed that decision, the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) agreed to hear the case to determine if Hungary had
violated freedom of expression as protected by the European Convention on
Human Rights <https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf>.
Last week, the ECHR released its decision, finding that Hungary had indeed
violated Article 10 of the Convention. This is a significant win for free
expression <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/11/22/freedom-expression-link/>
in Europe, and a recognition of the importance of hyperlinking as
expression. Hyperlinks may not get a lot of attention, but they are
essential to collaboration, communication, and information sharing on the
web, and the court rightfully recognized this. We are excited to share this
decision and hope that it can serve as an example for future discussions
about free expression on the internet.
Best,
Allison Davenport & Jim Buatti