The widespread spread of the Internet has provided good ground not only for communication and information enrichment, but also for committing crimes. Criminals are attracted by the remoteness, anonymity and the high probability that they will never be found. Therefore, fraud, blackmail, insulting the honor and dignity of people, as well as slander are currently flourishing online.
Moreover, these crimes can affect both an individual person and a group of people, and in the case of insults based on national or religious grounds, an entire community of people. The spread of slander on the Internet is not uncommon, and if you find yourself in such a situation, you will probably think about whether it is possible to punish the offender according to the law and what needs to be done for this. Let's figure it out in order.
What is libel
According to Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, libel is the dissemination of knowingly false information that discredits the honor and dignity of a person or undermines his reputation. There are several types of slander:
- which is contained in a public speech, demonstrated in any work or media;
- committed using one’s official position;
- that a person suffers from a socially dangerous disease, or that a person has committed violent acts of a sexual nature;
- that a person has committed a serious or especially serious crime.
Regardless of whether one person slandered another intentionally or not, he will be held accountable for what he did; the punishment will depend on what crime he will be charged with in accordance with the classification described above.
On social networks and media
Due to the fact that a separate article for libel on the Internet is not provided, in 2012 an amendment was made to the Criminal Code, according to which such behavior on the Internet is equated to public speech, which is demonstrated to a wide range of people using the media.
In addition, if the Internet resource on which the defamatory information was posted is registered as a mass media outlet, the norms established by law regarding the media will be applied.
False information on the Internet is not uncommon. The difficulty here lies in which lies can be called slander and which cannot, because there is no clear definition of what can be considered the criterion of “falsehood.” The media often take advantage of this.
When publishing such information, they structure it in such a way as to minimize the possibility of the person to whom this information concerns going to court. Such publications are most often custom-made and used to reduce the popularity of a particular person or enterprise. In most cases, such materials contain a link to an authoritative source who wished to remain anonymous.
At the same time, there is such an unpleasant practice on the part of the media as covering up false information with freedom of speech, and, unfortunately, this scheme works. However, any person has the right by law to defend his honor and dignity, and the media can still be prosecuted for using false information.
If such a situation arises, it is worth contacting law enforcement agencies, and if the fact of slander is proven, the violator will be held accountable in accordance with the provisions of Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Slander on social networks has a slightly different direction than in the media. It is rarely custom-made and is more often based on the personal hostility of the offender towards the person whose honor he wants to discredit.
In this situation, it is necessary to distinguish what exactly we are dealing with - slander or insult, because these acts are interpreted by different articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
If there is a public dissemination of false information, then we are talking about libel. If a “cunning word” was addressed to you, then it is appropriate to talk about an insult.
The difficulty in finding and catching criminals who spread false information on social media is that they never do it openly.
Most often, fictitious names are used, fake pages are created, or strangers are used that were illegally accessed. However, this does not change the fact that a crime was committed, which means it must be investigated and punished in accordance with the law.
General information
This article also contains the following information:
- slander;
- actions taken in case of detection of defamation;
- criminal liability for libel.
The Internet has become an integral part of the life of modern people, and social networks have become a common place for communication and learning news. Over the past few years, dubious groups have begun to appear on social networks.
Statistics show that most of the criminal cases initiated relate to the dissemination of information discrediting the honor and dignity of citizens online, and a smaller part is slander in print media.
How to fight slander on the Internet: what to do and where to go
Judicial practice on issues of libel on the Internet has recently received significant development, the search for violators and methods for identifying them are being improved.
There is a special unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the so-called “K” department, which investigates crimes on the Internet. However, there are still a lot of difficulties in this matter.
So, for example, you cannot hold a website or Internet portal accountable, even if defamatory information is published on it; you can only contact the resource administration with a request to remove false information, citing evidence of its untruthfulness. If you receive a refusal, you can file an appeal to the magistrates' court to resolve the situation.
In any case, regardless of who and where used false information about you, liability can only arise if the court is provided with a well-formed evidence base.
What needs to be proven: the event of the crime, that is, the time, place of commission, method, etc., the guilt of the suspect, the amount and nature of the harm caused by the crime, the facts on the basis of which the court will establish the presence or absence of circumstances of the crime committed, as well as any other significant circumstances.
The difficulty of independently collecting evidence by the injured person is complicated by the fact that his capabilities are usually limited in technical terms. You can independently find out information about the owners of the site that contains false information. Data about the IP address of the person who posted the defamatory information, the location of his computer, etc. can only be found out if there is an order from the investigator or the court to do so.
In addition, it is often impossible to identify the person spreading false information if this was done, for example, by sending anonymous letters to organizations or citizens, or when disseminating information on the Internet by an individual who cannot be identified.
According to the civil code, in this case, upon the application of the person subjected to slander, the court may recognize the disseminated information as untrue. Also, a person who has suffered due to slander has the right to demand compensation for moral damage and losses.
If information has been disseminated about you that is not true, you can and should defend your rights, since in this case your honor and dignity suffer.
You need to contact the police department with an application to conduct a check for the presence of a crime under Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
It is quite possible that the audit will not find criminal intent in these actions, and you will be refused to initiate a criminal case. But you can always file a civil claim for damages if your reputation has actually been damaged.
If you apply to the magistrate's court, it is better to do this when you have all the evidence in your hands that the crime really took place, otherwise the case will not be considered by the court.
You can also complain to the prosecutor's office about the dissemination of information discrediting you. The competence of this body includes bringing the offender to criminal liability without trial. If, however, a trial cannot be avoided, then an employee of the prosecutor’s office will represent your interests, acting in the status of a state prosecutor.
Proof
The most difficult thing in this whole process is to prove the fact of slander . In fact, it is much more complicated than it might seem at first glance. In cases where false information was disseminated via the Internet, printouts of messages containing defamatory information, publications of sites, forums, social networks that were used to disseminate the data can be used as material evidence; a notarized copy of the site inspection protocol will also be required.
Often, the presence of slander in any statement requires the opinion of a professional linguist-expert.
What are the dangers of fake news?
People often make important decisions, such as who to vote for in elections or what medical treatment to take, based on information obtained from the news, which is why the accuracy of the news is so important. Fake news carries the following dangers:
- When people cannot distinguish real news from fake news, it creates confusion and misunderstanding on important social and political issues. People have a general feeling that "you can't believe everything you read." This undermines overall trust in serious news sources.
- Fake and misleading information about treatments for serious illnesses such as cancer or Covid-19 can lead people to make poor decisions about their health.
- Many fake news are aimed at inciting and exacerbating social conflicts. Supporters of each point of view have their own “facts,” which leads to increased polarization of society and can affect the results of elections.
- University and college students must use reliable sources of information to complete assignments. Students who use sources with unreliable or misleading information may receive lower grades.
The concept of disseminating information that discredits business reputation
At the legislative level, the concept of business reputation is not defined in any way, but meanwhile, the Civil Code contains rules on how a person or a competing organization can be held accountable for disseminating false information about a legal entity.
According to the law, every person, regardless of whether he is a journalist or an ordinary citizen, has the right to express his opinion. However, not all people are able to adequately perceive negative reviews about their activities or the work of their native company.
It is for this reason that the victim of such words may have a desire to force such a person not only to apologize, but also to pay the cost of his damaged reputation.
The concept of information that discredits business reputation
As practice shows, information that discredits the business reputation of a company significantly detracts from the dignity of the company and its honor.
It is for this reason that the dissemination of such false information is a violation of legislation, moral standards, and communication with other companies, which consists of business customs. The following information applies to such companies:
- Unfounded accusation of a legal entity for failure to fulfill its professional activities;
- Dishonesty (illegal receipt of funds);
- Dishonesty in fulfilling assigned obligations.
Subject of the offense
Some individuals and legal entities may act as the subject of such an unlawful act, in particular:
- Clients of the company who, for some reason, were dissatisfied with the cooperation;
- Competitors who in this way try to reduce the popularity of the organization among potential clients and lure them to their company;
- Journalists and other public figures who provided false information about a legal entity.
From terrorists from Syria to pills from Israel
18 suicide bombers sent to Russian cities, a mass action by the suicide group “Blue Whale”, during which five thousand children were supposed to commit suicide, poisoned tangerines from Turkey, paracetamol from Israel with a wire inside, chewing gum with drugs offered to children in schools - this is only a small part of all the horror stories that are spread in instant messengers and social networks.
One of the last ones appeared in Kazan before the start of the summer holidays. School groups are actively sending out messages about the appearance of a new species of insect, from the bite of which “a person goes crazy and dies within two hours.” The message is accompanied by a photograph of a beetle with a pimply back and the caption: “Show it to the children, don’t let them touch it thinking it’s a hedgehog.” To enhance the effect, the spam kit also includes an image of a palm and fingers dotted with black holes - apparently, traces of hedgehog injections.
This insect is a giant water bug Belostomatidae, says the biological encyclopedia. Photo nnm.me
“This insect is a giant water bug, Belostomatidae. It grows up to 15 centimeters in length. Despite its not very appetizing appearance, this insect is considered a delicacy in some Asian countries. The bite is very painful, but not fatal. This is a tropical creature; there are no giant water bugs in our area,” says the biological encyclopedia.
The effect increases significantly if officials join in sending the message. Thus, in 2015, panic began in Tatarstan over the message about “the death of 12 children due to allergies to medications,” which came from the name of the chief physician of the State Autonomous Institution “Medical and Physical Education Dispensary” of Naberezhnye Chelny, Rafis Akhmetzyanov. It turned out that the chief physician’s secretary, having received a message from her friend on WhatsApp, decided to do a “good deed” and send it out from her boss’s office email.
On the eve of the worldwide attack of the WannaCray virus, another message appeared about dangers from the World Wide Web:
“Tell all the contacts on your list not to accept the video called 'Daddy Dance.' This is a virus that formats your mobile phone. Beware, it is very dangerous. They announced it on the radio today. Output this msg as much as possible!”
As you can easily see, it is similar to another fake message calling for an urgent warning to family and friends about the new virus ivchetoo 225 and ivchetoo 05.
Andrey Prozorov: “We need to use specialized software products, services that allow us to identify the emergence of new groups, new activities, new trends and hashes in social networks, and from there see who the original source was and work with him.” Photo ict-online.ru
