ZAGREB, January 27, 2018 – Croatia’s Electronic Media Council said on Friday that in 2017 it received 37 reports of possible hate speech in electronic media, however, there was no case that amounted to hate speech under the Electronic Media Law, but there were many examples of insults and vituperative outbursts.
In assessing whether hate speech is present, the Council uses the Council of Europe’s definition of hate speech and the prevailing practice of the European Court for Human Rights, in addition to national legislation.
Last year the Council examined 37 cases of potential hate speech; three of those were sent to the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND) for further consideration and one was referred to the prosecutorial authorities, according to a statement issued by the Council.
Although there were no cases of hate speech as defined by the relevant regulations, it is evident that insulting and inappropriate contents are on the rise in social media, primarily in comments made by readers.
The Electronic Media Council therefore called on all stakeholders in the media sector to resort to well-reasoned debates free of ad hominem attacks.
The Council said it would pro-actively work on this topic, recalling that the role of media outlets is to promote tolerance and civilisation standards and to contribute to social cohesion.
