10. 04. 2014

CAN A FACEBOOK ‘LIKE’ BE CRIMINAL OFFENCE?

However, there were many others who supported online the content due to which the spokeperson of special police units Radomir Počuča and a member of the organization "Naši" Ivan Ivanović are in custody.

Should those who openly support, ‘like' and share content on the Internet due to which someone is held criminally responsible be worried?

"If you ‘liked' something, you expressed your opinion, therefore - you spoke. That speech is equally subject to limitations as any other which violates the Criminal Code", said Vladimir Vodinelić from the Law School of the University "Union".

However, not every act of sharing and ‘liking' is a criminal offense, although it is related to it. Lawyers point out that a broader context should be taken into account and that the relation which someone had towards particular content should be examined.

"If someone shared a status and said ‘This is unacceptable', then the context in which it was shared indicates that the person condemns it, instead of supporting it", said Đorđe Krivokapić from the Faculty of Organisational Sciences.

If there is no doubt about expressed support, the lawyers have no dilemma either. Responsibility does not diminish with the increase in the number of participants in the offense. If the expressed attitude is contrary to the rule of law, the number of people who support it does not play a role. They are responsible.

"We know that when there is violence in soccer games, where a large number of people regularly participates, the only question is whether one can prosecute them all. However, this question is technical, but not at all legal", said Vladimir Vodinelić.

Possible criminal charges caused by support to hate speech were not created with the emergence of virtual world. If the incitement to violence was printed on a poster, the responsibility would be equally shared among those who distribute it. It is the same with petitions.

If the purpose of a petition is problematic, both the initiators and the signatories are responsible. But if legal punishment of a large number of people is not realistic, social stigma is possible at least.

"This means that the public and individuals can collect the data and create a list of all those who ‘liked' and shared Počuča's status, and then turn this into application which could show those of your friends on Facebook and Twitter who ‘liked' and shared this status", Krivokapić explains.

Freedom of speech in Serbia is guaranteed by the Constitution and the Europan Convention on Human Rights. However, as everywhere else in the world, freedom of speech is not unlimited in Serbia. When you ‘like' something on Facebook, do it responsibly or be prepared to take the consequences.