Fighting illegal and harmful content on the Internet

Aim of the project

The general objective of this research is to propose and develop a theoretical model of legal protection of personality rights in cyberspace (e.g. defamation on Internet forms, hate speech, privacy invasions, data protection infringements, copyright infringements etc.). The analysis will take into account legal solutions developed thus far in Poland as well as in leading EU countries, the USA and Australia. Legal standing of Internet intermediaries (telecoms, hosting providers, cloud service providers, caching service providers, search engines, catalogue service providers, advertising networks etc.), who could be held liable for aiding and abetting in content distribution will also be analysed. The latest jurisprudence of intermediaries, such as Google in managing access to objectionable content will be taken into an account together with trends in various jurisdictions.

Project Impact

Research in this area may be of great importance for the development of freedom of speech on the Internet in Poland and in the European Union. The development of an optimal model of blocking illegal content on the Internet will significantly strengthen legal certainty on the Internet and contribute to better protection of freedom of speech in cyberspace.