The Internet has given us not only the opportunity to freely express our opinions, but also created an illusory appearance of anonymity. Some users did not fail to take advantage of this, allowing themselves to publish false information without fear of punishment. They can channel their dissatisfaction to a specific person or to a group of people who are united political, religious, ideological or professional views.
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However, not only technical capabilities are developing, but also the regulatory framework regulating aspects of relationships between people. Since 2012, Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia has come into force in Russia, paragraph 2 of which defines legal relations for the dissemination of slander in public speeches, works, as well as in the media.
Decoding concepts
In accordance with Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia, libel is understood as the dissemination of information of knowingly false content, which can undermine the reputation and/or harm the honor and dignity of a citizen or group of persons.
For the publication of such information in the media, including on Internet resources registered as media, the court may impose one of the following types of punishment.
- Fine – up to 1,000,000 rubles.
- Fine in the amount of salary or other income of the violator - up to 1 year.
- Mandatory work – up to 240 hours.
Please note that these preventive measures may increase in the following cases:
- When using official position.
- When spreading false information that a person is suffering from a dangerous disease.
- In case of slander about the commission of a serious crime.
However, due to the insufficient decoding in paragraph 2 of Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia, ambiguous judicial practice has developed in our country.
In some cases, the court accepted the Internet as a media outlet, without taking into account their voluntary registration as a media outlet, given that information can become known to a wide range of users through the network.
In others, on the contrary, a decision was made in accordance with the first paragraph of the above article, under which one of the following penalties may be applied:
- Fine – up to 500,000 rubles.
- Fine in the amount of salary or other income of the violator - up to 0.5 g.
- Mandatory work – up to 160 hours.
Because of this, at the moment, most courts, when considering cases of publication of libel on the Internet, make a decision in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 128.1, if it was published by a citizen or representatives of a site that is not registered as a media outlet. And under paragraph 2 of Article 128.1, if it came from a site voluntarily registered as a media outlet.
Who was the author of the amendments
The author of the amendments was the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Development of Civil Society, Issues of Public and Religious Associations Dmitry Vyatkin , a member of the United Russia faction. In the explanatory note to the document, he wrote that in the current realities, slander can be spread on the Internet, and this or that website may not belong to the media, even if its audience “significantly exceeds the reach of traditional media.”
Where to go if you have been slandered on the Internet?
If an attacker has slandered you on the Internet, you need to contact the police and write a statement. The text of this document is compiled in any form. However, it must display the following information:
- The name of the police station to which it is being submitted.
- The main points of the offense, indicating the time and date of receipt of the slander, as well as the website address.
- Contact and personal information about the applicant.
- Contact information of the site, if the slander was distributed on behalf of a specific Internet resource.
- List of supporting documents. For example, a screenshot or an act of viewing a page on the Internet, certified by a notary.
- List of witnesses (nicknames or user names), if the slander was received in an open source and other network users have already become familiar with it.*
- Date of preparation.
- Applicant's signature.
Please note that even if there are no people familiar with the slander, it will fall under Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia, since in the future it may become publicly available.
After receiving the application, police officers will issue a coupon notification that it has been accepted for consideration. Typically, the inspection lasts from 3 to 10 days, after which a decision is made to initiate a case or refuse. In the first case, it is sent to court, and in the second, they will issue a document substantiating the reason for the refusal.
If you disagree with the reason for the refusal, you can appeal it to the prosecutor's office. It is also possible to independently initiate consideration of the case in court by writing a claim. Libel cases are heard by magistrates.
Stages of consideration of a case in court
In accordance with the established procedure for legal proceedings for criminal offenses, the consideration of cases of libel occurs as follows:
- Pre-trial proceedings, including the initiation of a case and preliminary operational and investigative measures.
- Collection of materials on a criminal offense.
- Preliminary hearing.
- First instance of legal proceedings.
- Second instance of legal proceedings (appeal, cassation).
- Execution of the sentence.
Please note that in some cases a third level of legal proceedings may be required after this. It can be installed in the following cases:
- If necessary, establish supervision over the execution of the sentence.
- If it is necessary to revise the sentence due to new circumstances in the case.
Criminal proceedings refer to the final stage of the process, which results in a verdict in the case (indictment or acquittal of the defendant). Due to the fact that the fate of the accused and the victim can seriously change after this stage, it is important to carefully formulate testimony and present maximum evidence.
Therefore, both parties need to use the services of qualified criminal defense lawyers.
INSULT AND PUNISHMENT
Thus, if you were humiliated - for example, cursed or called unpleasant names - but at the same time your reputation was not damaged or accused of non-existent sins, then this is an insult.
In this case, you need to write a statement to the prosecutor's office. And if the prosecutor’s opinion about the insult coincides with yours, then a protocol will be drawn up. Prosecutor's office employees will take screenshots of web pages with insults and, if necessary, conduct a linguistic examination. After this, the case will go to court and the judge will decide whether the message or post is offensive. By the way, if you not only want to force the rude person to fork out money, but also seek to remove negative information, this must be stated in the claim.
The penalty for insult is:
• for a citizen – from 5 thousand to 10 thousand rubles;
• for an official – from 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles;
• for a legal entity – from 200 thousand to 700 thousand rubles.
• for an official - up to 100 thousand rubles or disqualification for a year. If the servant of the people does not calm down and insults you again, then he faces a fine of up to 150 thousand rubles or disqualification for up to two years.
These fines are paid to the state. But you can also sue a rude person for money - to do this you need to file a civil lawsuit for moral compensation. It is necessary to confirm that you really experienced moral suffering: provide certificates from doctors, receipts for the purchase of medicines, etc. Unfortunately, you cannot count on serious compensation: as practice shows, if in such cases it is possible to sue for something, then the average amount is 30 thousand rubles.
Fines for online abuse are paid to the state. But you can sue the rude person for money in a claim for moral compensation.
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Yes, and if you win, do not forget to send the court decision to the site administration (for example, by email). Otherwise, how will they know that they have to remove insults from their pages?
What to do if the attacker is unknown?
If the person who published false information hides his name, publishes under a nickname, or uses the possibilities of anonymously sending messages, when writing a statement to the police, you need to add a clause to it about the need to verify and establish the user’s identity. In this case, the identity of the criminal is first identified, and only then the information on the second part of the libel statement is checked.
The Internet is becoming more and more dangerous
There are more and more reasons for Russians to receive a prison term for any actions on the Internet. Back in July 2021, the State Duma passed its first reading of a bill that was supposed to toughen penalties for refusing to delete defamatory or unreliable information on the Internet. According to the text of the document, for such an offense Russians had to pay a fine of up to 20 thousand rubles. For refusal, the document provided for criminal punishment up to a year in prison.
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In March 2021, the State Duma increased fines for citizens up to 100 times for insulting authorities on the Internet and disseminating false information, having adopted in the second reading a package of bills prohibiting the dissemination of false information online and insulting authorities. A ban was also introduced on insulting human dignity and public morality on the Internet.
Evidence base
It is important to understand that during any consideration of a case in court, you need to carefully prepare evidence. In the case of libel, you can resort to psychological and linguistic examination, which will help to attest to the following facts:
- The presence of negative and/or false information about the victim.
- The essence of the information has an affirmative form or an evaluative thought aimed at undermining the reputation or hurting the honor and dignity of a citizen.
- False information is aimed specifically at the victim.
Psychological and linguistic examination can be carried out by independent experts. It can be initiated by the victim or the court if there is insufficient evidence during the consideration of the case.
If you are threatened or blackmailed
Today there is no longer any anonymity on the Internet, unless you use the darknet. A threat cannot be anonymous - it always comes from some account, phone number, address. It’s not that difficult to identify even a disguised attacker, especially for law enforcement officers.
Threat or extortion is a much more serious crime than insult. Threat is understood as the intention of one person to cause serious harm to the health of another or take his life (Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation); Blackmail (demanding the transfer of someone else's property... under the threat of disseminating information disgracing the victim or his relatives, or other information that could cause significant harm to the rights or legitimate interests of the victim or his relatives) is devoted to Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
If it comes to making a statement to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, list all the circumstances of what happened: who made the threat, where, how exactly, when, under what circumstances and who can confirm the fact of the threat.
To prove the fact of a threat or other negative information, notarized screenshots of correspondence may be required (the service of inspecting pages, personal messages and messages in instant messengers has recently been widely practiced by Russian notaries), which will then serve as an argument in court.
Prosecution
A situation may arise when the law does not provide for the possibility of bringing to justice the resource where false information was posted.
In this case, questions regarding the falsity or legality of the information presented are resolved by contacting the resource administrator. When the portal administration refuses to make changes to previously published material, the victim has the right to send a statement of claim to bring the perpetrator to punishment to a judicial authority. Difficulties may arise because, as a rule, the information is provided anonymously. Problems also arise regarding the collection of evidence.
Advice! Lawyers advise that you first send a counter publication where false information was previously posted.
How does attraction happen?
According to the general rule, an application for libel is filed in the magistrate's court. This is due to the fact that this category of cases refers to cases of private prosecution. The application is considered by the judge of the district where the incident occurred. The applicant has the right to apply directly to the judicial authority, bypassing other authorities, and put forward an initiative aimed at bringing to justice the person who insulted the victim.
Nuances
The difficulties that victims in this category of cases may encounter are related to the difficulty of solving them.
Judicial practice in situations where an editor is found guilty is minimal. Victims, first of all, when this crime is committed against them, strive to protect their rights that were violated, regain their good name and restore authority among colleagues, and regain the favor of loved ones and relatives.
If information about a minor is disseminated
When spreading slander against persons under eighteen years of age, the Internet is most often used.
The cause of the spread may be conflict between teenagers. In practice, there are rarely cases when adults spread slander against minors. Depending on who committed the act, the procedure for bringing to justice depends on:
- If a person has reached 18 years of age, then the Criminal or Administrative Codes apply.
- When the perpetrator is under 16 years of age, he cannot be held liable for libel.
Criminal proceedings
This category of cases is initiated as a private prosecution.
In this case, the appeal is sent to the magistrate's court. The victim needs to prepare a base that will be of an evidentiary nature. It is possible to conduct the following examinations within the framework of the case:
- linguistic;
- psychological and linguistic.
The examination can only be entrusted to those specialists who have been certified by the Chamber of Forensic Experts. It is worth noting that a commission is created that conducts an examination; one expert cannot do this.
The criteria by which the expert is provided with information about the crime:
- the presence of negative information regarding the victim;
- in what form the false information is expressed: assessment or statement;
- whether the slander applies to the one who spread it.
The conclusion made by the experts will be used as the basis for the verdict, as well as the testimony of eyewitnesses and the opinion of the victim.
Case investigation, evidence
Representatives of a special police department called “K” control criminal activity on the Internet.
Cases of libel spread on the Internet and the media are quite difficult to investigate. During the investigation, actions are taken to find evidence. When guilt is proven, a letter is sent to the management of the portal where the false information is posted, outlining the requirements for blocking the account of the person who provided this information. When a judge has established the fact of slander, the editor or administrator must remove the defamatory information from the resource.
The following is considered as evidence:
- materials that are in written form;
- evidence that the information disseminated is false;
- screenshots of pages that were distributed on the Internet;
- witness statements.
Distinctive features of the act
The consequences that arise as a result of the dissemination of slanderous information have a wide public resonance, as the masses discuss the information received, and a person’s reputation is undermined.
It is worth noting that slander that is spread through the media is quite difficult to prove. This is due to the fact that the information is prepared in such a way as to avoid the possibility of challenge in a judicial body.
Publications, as a rule, have the nature of an order, so they include provisions that reduce the likelihood of distinguishing false information from true information.
Attention! The media have the right not to indicate the source from which the information was obtained, leaving it anonymous.
