International experience in legal support of freedom of speech on the Internet

Abstract

The relevance of the studied subject lies in the fact that freedom of speech is a fundamental human right that should be ensured at the legislative level. However, in the era of rapid development of information and communication technologies, it is necessary to find a balance between such provision and the protection of the rights of others. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the legal support of freedom of speech at the international level, and the experience of foreign countries in the legal regulation of this issue. The study utilises general theoretical methods of research, namely historical, abstract-logical, systemic-functional, analysis and synthesis, the method of theoretical generalisation to generalise the theoretical and legal foundations of ensuring freedom of speech existing in foreign countries and to systematise the components of the right to freedom of speech and criteria and conditions for restricting the right to freedom of speech and the right to express views and beliefs. Comparative legal method is used for the analysis and comparison of foreign legislation regulating freedom of speech and the right to express views and beliefs on the Internet. The paper substantiates that the problem of legal regulation of ensuring freedom of speech lies in the complexity of achieving an optimal balance between guaranteeing the right to freedom of speech and protecting others. It is revealed that the implementation of the right to freedom of speech on the Internet and in social networks in the United States, Japan, China, and Germany is regulated differently on the legislative level and various approaches are used. Special attention is paid to legislative provision of responsibility for spreading false information, protection of public safety, and protection of copyright on the Internet. The opinion is justified that the experience of Japan and Germany is the most acceptable for Ukraine. The practical importance of the study lies in the fact that the analysis of the legislation of foreign countries allowed identifying the features of legal regulation of the right to freedom of speech in individual states and establishing the advantages and disadvantages that may exist in this field.