‘Effective system of protection of journalists’ and ‘without fear’ principles: The ECHR’s Positive Obligations to Protect Journalist Safety and Security in the Digital Era

The digital era has presented a catalyst for renewed attention to anti-press tactics. Journalists around the world endure threats, abuse, and disinformation campaigns perpetrated on social media platforms and below-the-line comments on newspaper websites. The key questions this article seeks to answer are: to what extent does the state have positive obligations to protect journalists from online abuse per the ECHR? And do those obligations extend to the regulation of online platforms? This article highlights that journalist safety and security are protected in the ECtHR’s ‘effective system of protection’ and ‘without fear’ principles (in Dink and Ismayilova) but that the ECtHR has not adequately applied those principles to situations of online abuse targeting journalists and consequently not protected journalistic freedom to the extent that it should. It argues that Court should consider journalist safety and security when adjudicating cases concerning platform liability in the Delphi/Sanchez/Google line of cases, including in prospective cases involving the UK’s Online Safety Act, the EU’s Digital Services Act and the European Media Freedom Act.

Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt

r.gerbrandt@ucl.ac.uk