Poland to protect freedom of expression right

Poland to protect freedom of expression right

The European nation intends to make social media censorship illegal through a new bill that would penalize platforms if they block a user who breaks no local law

The Central European nation Poland is in the process of preparing a bill to protect the right of expression of its citizens on social media, provided they break no local laws.

The new bill being drafted by the Ministry of Justice will have provisions to penalise social media platforms if they unilaterally block a user or deletes their posts if they do not break any Polish laws.

The draft bill proposes to create the 'Freedom of Speech Council' which would be the authority to shield the constitutional right to freedom of expression on social media of its citizens.

The Sejm, the lower house of the Parliament of Poland would appoint five legal experts in the proposed Council for a six-year term with a three-fifth majority vote.

Polish citizens would now have an avenue to get their grievances redressed in a systematic manner. If a social media platform deletes any post or blocks the user who has not violated the local laws, he/she can submit a complaint directly to the social media company which will mandatorily have to respond within 48 hours. In case if the user is not satisfied with the response of the social media platform, they can move to the Freedom of Speech Council which will consider the appeal within a week. The social media user will have the right to appeal against the Council's decision before a court.

"Social media networking sites themselves decide about deleting entries and even blocking user accounts. There is no effective possibility of appealing against such a decision, even if the user proves that he did not break any law. The operation of the website violates freedom of expression. Social media users need to feel that their rights are protected," Zbigniew Ziobro, Poland's Minister of Justice, said, adding that there is need to restrict the freedom of social media platforms who arbitrarily abuse the freedom of speech.

The Freedom of Speech Council will have powers to impose a penalty on any social media platform that fails to act in accordance with the order issued by the Council of a Court. The proposed penalty for defying the Council's or Court's order will vary between the Polish zloty (PNL) 50,000 and 50 million (approximately $13.4 million).

The proposed new bill will have provision to conduct the proceedings in the electronic form to cut down on the cost of litigation and ensure speedy disposal of an appeal.