Authorities start fight against comments at websites

Amendments to Decree №60 have been prepared, which envisage responsibility of owners of websites for comments of users.

It was said by Information Minister Liliya Ananich at a press-conference in Minsk on May 4.

As said by her, according to BelaPAN, the amendments are made as a part of the plan of actions for bringing legal acts in accordance with the Law on Mass Media currently in force. “There are also other changes there, which are necessary because the new Law on Mass Media has been adopted,” Ananich said.

At the same time, the minister stressed that the law on mass media “does not annul the rest of the laws.” “If a citizen feels that a concrete author of this or that comment had insulted him, and it would be established, he can apply for defence of one’s legal rights and interests in the framework of other laws,” she noted.

We remind that on January 1, 2015 amendments to the “Law on Mass Media” were passed. One of the most important novelties is that the Law on Mass Media, with the exception of requirements of the state registration, is extended to all internet resources, which are now responsible for their publications in the same way as official mass media.

After the new law was adopted, experts attracted attention to the fact that norms of the Decree №60 and the new Law on Mass Media do not correspond, as under the Decree, persons who had published comments hold responsibility for them, while in the law this responsibility is held by web resources, to the extent of their possible blocking.