Is there any punishment for libel on social networks?

Liability for libel is provided for under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. On January 10, 2021, a number of amendments were made to Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code. The list of qualifying compounds has been expanded, and accordingly, more conditions have appeared for receiving an increased fine.

Sanctions for libel on the Internet can amount to up to a million rubles. If a person is falsely accused of committing a crime against sexual integrity, then the amount increases to 5 million. The most persistent violators are sentenced to imprisonment.

The concept of libel in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

We are talking about the dissemination of deliberately false information that denigrates someone’s dignity, undermines authority, etc. Thus, a harsh statement about an outfit or haircut is not slander, since this is how a person expresses his subjective opinion. If a user publishes a post on his page on a social network that his friend wears counterfeit branded items, then such information can harm the reputation and therefore can be regarded as slanderous.

Information may be recognized as slander if the following conditions are met:

1. The fact of distribution was established. If the information has not been transferred to third parties, then it is not considered distributed. For example, during an argument, a person told his colleague that he was always late for work. In reality, the delay only happened once. Such statements are lies, not slander. If a person reports on his colleague to the director or spreads similar information among other employees, then we will be talking about slander, and therefore such actions will entail criminal liability.
2. The information is deliberately false. It is important that the person disseminating the information knows that it is not true. If a citizen is sure that he is providing real data, then such information is not considered slander. For example, a person watched a video on the Internet, and, believing it, commented on this information publicly. He will not be held accountable for his actions, since there is no corpus delicti.
3. There is direct intent. Criminal liability arises if false information was given with the aim of defaming another person.
4. Information discredits the honor and dignity of someone and undermines their reputation. It is important that the information relates to any events or specific facts. Calling names, value judgments and expressing personal opinions cannot be classified as slander. For example, calling a person with two higher educations an idiot will not subject him to criminal liability.

True information cannot be considered libelous, even if it is defamatory. For example, an official was convicted of bribery and sentenced to a certain punishment. Dissemination of these facts on social networks does not imply any responsibility.

This is slander

In the modern world, various confrontations and conflicts are not uncommon, which are not always conducted honestly.
One of the most common weapons of the information age is information itself. Used from a certain angle and for a specific purpose, they can harm another person, sometimes much more seriously than other methods of influence. For example, insult and slander are quite commonly used methods of influencing a person. Both ways have consequences described in the legislation of the Russian Federation. Slander is the dissemination and communication of information that is not true. Moreover, only that action in which it is known in advance that the information is false is considered slander. There is an addition according to which the list of information includes information that discredits the dignity or honor of another person, as well as having a negative impact on his reputation.

Who can be accused of libel

Today anyone can be charged with libel. For example, a person who gave false and defamatory information about a citizen or organization can be brought to justice. This also includes posts on the Internet containing unsubstantiated, unverified information.

Any citizen who has reached the age of 16 can receive liability under Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. However, slander should not be confused with ordinary insult or fake news. It is not possible to punish a citizen for just any unpleasant statement. Defamation has its own characteristics, the presence of which implies the emergence of criminal liability.

If the statement cannot be called slanderous, then the violator can be fined under the Code of Administrative Offenses. Amendments to the law will help those individuals who want to protect the reputation of a business or their good name. You can even be held accountable for a negative review if it contains defamatory unconfirmed facts.

Slander and insult

It is also worth distinguishing between the two concepts of “slander” and “insult”. Slander is the communication to others and the dissemination of deliberately false information, which leads to a negative impact on a person’s reputation, while insult is an obscene statement about a person. Hence: libel is a crime, insult is an administrative offense. Slander points to certain facts, insult simply evaluates a person from a negative side.

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What has changed in the libel law

Punishment for libel existed until 2022. For the dissemination of false information, Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provided for the following types of punishment:

• a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles;
• a fine in the amount of the convicted person’s income for a period of up to six months;
• up to 160 hours of compulsory work.

In the current version of the law, the above preventive measures remain unchanged. They are appointed in cases of slander without qualifying features. For example, a citizen who shared defamatory information among friends can be held accountable. The amount of the fine depends on the size of the damage.

In 2022, the article was supplemented with three qualifying criteria:

• Internet slander;
• false accusations of harassment or rape;
• slander against a group of people.

The following types of liability are provided for the dissemination of false information on social networks:

• fine up to one million rubles;
• a fine in the amount of the convicted person’s annual income;
• up to 240 hours of compulsory work;
• up to two years of forced labor;
• arrest up to two months;
• up to two years in prison.

The above penalties are also provided for slander against several persons.

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If a citizen makes false accusations of rape and harassment, he will receive one of the following types of punishment:

• fine up to five million rubles;
• a fine in the amount of the convicted person’s income for up to three years;
• up to 480 hours of compulsory work;
• up to five years of forced labor;
• imprisonment for up to five years;
• arrest within 4-6 months.

Only an individual can be held criminally liable for defamatory statements. Legal entities are subject to administrative penalties. Regarding Article 5.61.1 of the Administrative Code, for such a violation of the law, a company may receive a fine in the amount of 500 thousand to 3 million rubles.

Article for libel in 2022

The article was adopted in 2012, but amendments were made in 2022, so for 2022 the article “Slander” has an edited form. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, libel is divided into 5 subtypes, each of which has a comment and a separately described type of punishment.

It is worth considering in more detail each concept that makes up the term “libel.” Comments to the article “Slander”:

• Dissemination means that the information has been communicated to others. Moreover, this includes absolutely any methods - written, audio, and video materials. You can also slander a person using the media (radio, newspapers, television), the Internet or in personal communication. Even a contact between just two people resulting in false information may be subject to legal action;
• Knowingly (knowingly false) - the slanderer knew for sure in advance that the information he was reporting did not correspond to reality;
• Falsehood is not conformity with the truth;
• Defaming dignity - belittling a person’s personality in the eyes of the public. For example, this includes information according to which a person committed, participated in, or witnessed an illegal or immoral act.

It is worth noting separately that, according to Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, only an individual can be a victim or plaintiff, while a legal entity does not have the opportunity to sue on the basis of this provision.

Features of initiating criminal cases

Cases of libel without qualifying criteria are classified as private prosecution cases. In this case, a criminal case is initiated at the initiative of the victim. He acts as a prosecutor, submitting the statement of claim to the magistrate. Cases of private prosecution are not controlled by government services, and therefore a criminal case can be terminated by agreement of the parties.

If one of the qualifying criteria is present, we will be talking about a case of public prosecution. Not only the victim himself, but also law enforcement officers who notice such a violation can initiate paperwork. For example, a post on social networks accusing someone of sexual harassment may trigger the initiation of a criminal case.

After studying the information, law enforcement officers can initiate an investigation. If during the investigation it is established that false information has been disseminated, a criminal case will be initiated. In such cases, reconciliation of the parties is not a sufficient basis for termination of the process.

For example, a woman posted on a social network about her boss’s harassment. She indicated the date of the New Year's corporate party, during which the manager behaved inappropriately. Law enforcement officers decided to check this information. During the check, it was discovered that on the specified date the citizen was absent from the city. A criminal case was opened against the slanderer.

What to do if you refuse to initiate criminal proceedings

To begin criminal proceedings, strong evidence is required. If there are no grounds, law enforcement may refuse to initiate a criminal case. If a citizen acts as a private prosecutor, then a judge who considers the charges to be unfounded can terminate the proceedings. Such actions can be challenged in a higher court.

Having received a refusal to initiate a criminal case, a citizen also has the right to receive compensation for moral and material damage from the offender. To do this, you must file a civil lawsuit.

Arbitrage practice

Judicial practice under the article “Slander”, unfortunately, does not have the most positive information for victims, since in most cases the decision is not made in favor of the plaintiff. The reason for this is the vagueness of the wording in the law itself; there are no precise definitions. In addition, the evidence base is most often built on the testimony of witnesses, which does not always have real weight in court. Exceptions, perhaps, will be cases when there is evidence in the form of audio or video material, as well as printed newspapers, correspondence, etc.

As a rule, the most difficult thing in an accusation is to prove the elements of the crime, that is, it is necessary to show that the slanderer actually had malicious intent and committed the act intentionally, which means that for him the information was deliberately false.

A few examples of cases brought under this article:

• A case was presented to the court in which one person insulted another over the phone using profanity. A linguistic examination was carried out, as a result of which it was revealed that the words “idiot” and “fool” are not insults, but only evaluate a person based on his behavior. For this reason the accused was acquitted;
• The boss allowed himself to speak out about his subordinate in the workplace, namely, he accused the subordinate of coming to work drunk. This was not true, and the subordinate went to court to find the truth, since this statement negatively affected his reputation. However, the court found that in this case there was no corpus delicti: the boss heard this information from other employees, which means that he had no malicious intent;
• A domestic quarrel during which both parties uttered a lot of abusive and profanity towards each other. It was precisely because the slander and insults came from both participants in the case that the court decided that it was not necessary to impose a fine or compulsory labor.

Another factor complicating the practice of recognizing slander is the lack of a basis. People quite rarely go to court under this article, which is why there is no established judicial practice on which to rely. However, recently there are more and more such cases, for this reason it is possible that already in 2021 the article “Slander” will have more convictions.

Differences between libel and other crimes

Libel is not just a violation of the law. This is a crime for which criminal liability is provided. Therefore, in the absence of one of the signs, the information cannot be called defamatory.

Let's consider related types of violations that have much in common with libel:

1. Inaccurate information or fake. This information does not offend anyone and is not intended to undermine anyone's reputation. However, they are false, and therefore the law provides for a fine of up to 100 thousand rubles for posting fake information. If false data is related to coronavirus, then the violator can be fined up to 700 thousand rubles.
2. Insult. Here the scope of the violation is quite blurred, and they can be held accountable not only for a rude statement, but also for an inappropriate gesture or a picture of indecent content. The main criterion is non-compliance with moral standards. For insulting an individual, an individual may be punished in the range of 3-5 thousand rubles. If the offensive post was posted on the Internet, then the maximum fine increases to 10 thousand.
3. Violation of privacy. If a citizen illegally collected and disseminated information about a person, he may be prosecuted under Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The maximum amount of recovery is 200 thousand rubles. The offender may also be sentenced to compulsory labor for up to 360 hours or compulsory labor (up to a year). Particularly malicious criminals will be sentenced to imprisonment for up to two years.
4. Violation of the confidentiality of correspondence and telephone conversations. A citizen does not have the right to publish personal correspondence if it contains information that compromises the interlocutor. Punishment for such actions is provided for in Article 138 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A violator can be fined up to 80 thousand rubles, sentenced to compulsory labor for up to 360 hours or correctional labor for up to a year.

Thus, for every careless statement or post on a social network, a citizen can receive criminal punishment. Moreover, the crime will not necessarily be covered under the article for libel. There are a number of related violations, liability for which is prescribed in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Prevention and prevention

“If you don’t like what they write about you, don’t read,” “What did you expect from the Internet? Here everyone does what they want,” “Why take everything to heart?” — with similar remarks people try to support the victim of cyberbullying. But the child does not perceive virtual space as a threat. He has been immersed in the Internet since childhood: he associates games, cartoons, and fairy tales with pleasure. Therefore, having fallen into the aggressor’s network, he is left alone with him, not knowing how to act. And asking for help is a shame.

“Teach your children to respect confidentiality: do not post personal information or photos online that could damage their reputation and self-esteem, and do not share your location with strangers. If a teenager does become the target of bullying, do not reproach him: I told you so, but you didn’t listen. Create a safe environment by removing offensive messages and limiting access to violent videos. Block unwanted sites, but don’t take away gadgets, otherwise the child will feel like an outsider.”

I'm being trolled, what should I do?

• Share the problem with those you trust: relatives, friends, older comrades.
• Ignore an isolated incident of cyberbullying.
• Don't take revenge. As already mentioned, any negativity affects your well-being. If you can’t do anything, try to switch to something positive: visit a site with cute pictures, laugh at a funny video, write to a loved one.
• When they start to deliberately touch your nerves, tell them directly so that the person will stop.
• Laugh. Try to turn a mean comment into a joke. Mentally dress the troll in a clown suit, imagine how funny he makes faces, artificially cries or dances absurdly, as if in a circus.
• Save evidence: message screenshots, photos, videos.
• Block those who have a bad reputation online. This can be done in the phone settings, on special platforms. Close your profile, add only people you know as friends.
• If you are intimidated, extorted money or threatened with life/health, you need to contact the police.
• Report trolling to the content provider.
• If you witness cyberbullying, stand up for the victim, but do not engage in destructive dialogue. Invite your like-minded friends and together apply positive pressure on the aggressor. Create a separate chat to support the victim and exchange experiences of online behavior.

Internet

The World Wide Web allows you to spread false information about other persons, belittling their honor and dignity. At the same time, this is done very simply; there is the possibility of maintaining confidentiality and obtaining certain material benefits.

However, despite the fact that many anonymous authors hide behind fictitious nicknames and fake photographs after publishing materials online, the culprit can still be found. Modern judicial practice in these cases is gradually beginning to take shape and the search for slanderers on the Internet is reaching a new level.

The following video contains useful information about online libel:

Investigation and evidence base

Control over criminal acts on the Internet is entrusted to a specially created unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation - Directorate “K”. In their work, department employees are guided by special rules of the Criminal Code and other laws relating to libel on the Internet and media regulating the computer sphere, which do not define “libel on the Internet.”

The difficulty of the investigation lies in the fact that at the legislative level there is no way to bring a site or Internet resource containing publications with false and defamatory information to justice. To protect your rights, you can contact the management of the Internet portal with a statement about the publication of invalid information on the site and provide evidence of their illegality. In case of refusal, you can go to the magistrate's court to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The difficulty of handling cases is as follows:

• the perpetrator uses anonymity;
• labor-intensive process of searching for evidence.

If guilt is proven, a letter will be sent to the site management with a request to block the account of the person who disseminated the defamatory information. If the fact of presenting defamatory information is proven in court, then, by written court order, the owner of the Internet resource is obliged to remove the false information that discredits the honor of the victim.

mass media

So, slander on the Internet and the media: how to attract, where to go and how to fight? Dissemination of information about another person that does not correspond to reality in the media is the publication of such information in the following sources:

• printed publications;
• television and radio broadcasts and television programs;
• documentary programs.

The dissemination of slanderous information in the media can be very diverse - about a person’s business qualities, about a person’s character, his relationships with family members or colleagues, about views on politics or religion. However, always a mandatory sign of a criminal act is the provision of such information to a third party or an indefinite unlimited circle of persons.

If the information was communicated to the person whom it affected, it cannot be considered its dissemination if the person who communicated it took sufficient measures to maintain its secrecy.

This video presents an expert opinion of a lawyer on the issue of libel in the media:

Features of the crime

The consequences of the spread of slander in the media are the resulting wide resonance in society and the subsequent discussion of false information at various social levels, as well as a negative psychological impact on a person. A feature of slander in the media is the difficulty of determining the measure of the “falsity” of disseminated information. Many publications and reports containing materials with false information are prepared for release from the very beginning so that any possibility of challenge in court is excluded.

Materials and their publication are often of a custom nature and initially include provisions that reduce the likelihood of determining the falsity of information. For example, publications contain information about the poor quality of the company’s products in order to reduce its popularity in the market. To do this, certain phrases or expressions are used, and there is also an indication of some influential source or other compelling reasons. In this case, there is no need to indicate a reliable source of information; it can be anonymous.

Its signs and proof

The difficulty of proving the dissemination of slanderous information in the media lies in the fact that the principle of freedom of speech is enshrined at the constitutional level. Hiding behind this concept, many print media, television and radio channels use the opportunity to justify editorial orders or secrets containing information that can be considered unreliable.

This method is a loophole in the law that allows any dissemination of slanderous information in the media to be covered up by freedom of speech. Using this constitutional principle, attackers can protect their position. In addition, there are always people who are interested in being asked to spread defamatory information about others. And, of course, placement and publication of advertising or other materials with false information is done on a paid basis. Thus, the authors of such information receive good “royalties”.

How to hold people accountable?

Problems

The difficulty of bringing criminals to justice is explained by the fact that cases in this category are difficult to solve. Judicial practice is minimal in relation to bringing to justice the heads of editorial offices of public publications, various Internet resources or television channels.

If there has been slander in the media, the victims are interested in the process of protecting their violated rights, regaining their good name and the favor of their relatives and work colleagues.

Initiation of a case

Libel cases are initiated as private prosecutions. Therefore, in order to protect rights, it is necessary to apply to the magistrate’s court, which will “investigate” the crime. But in addition to this, it is necessary to obtain high-quality legal assistance, as well as prepare a substantial evidence base that will accurately and objectively indicate a violation of a citizen’s rights.

This may require the following examinations as part of the investigation of the case and identification of the culprit:

1. Psychological and linguistic examination
2. Linguistic expertise.

To carry out the examination, qualified specialists who have been certified by the Chamber of Forensic Experts are involved. The activity is to establish objective circumstances, prove the falsity of information, and justify the moral damage caused. To carry out the analysis, a commission of several specialists is created.

The expert is provided with information for research based on the following criteria:

• the presence of negative information about the victim;
• a form used to express false information: the statement or this information carries a value judgment;
• whether the defamatory information is related to a specific person who could have disseminated it.

The conclusion of these studies forms the basis for the court verdict, along with witness testimony and the subjective opinion of the victim.

If the victim does not have the opportunity to independently defend his rights, he has the right to file a complaint with law enforcement agencies. The case may be initiated by an investigator or an inquiry officer.

About what slander and insults on the Internet are. we'll tell you further.