Delfi’s readers may lose the right to comment stories
17.12.2008, 09:40 Estonian courts have now twice upheld the
claim of businessman Vjacheslav Leedo who sued the Delfi website for derogatory
comments of its readers.
Postimees writes that the court ruling means that operators of public
websites in Estonia such as Delfi are responsible for the content of comments
published by readers on their site.
Andrus Raudsalu, chairman of Delfi, said that if Delfi’s appeal to the
Supreme Court is unsuccessful, Delfi may be forced to stop allowing readers to
comment its stories.
“We are determined to go as high as the European Court,” said Raudsalu.
“The ruling means that, unlike in most other countries in the world, the
Internet is not free in Estonia,” said Ville Jehe, chairman of the supervisory
board of Delfi.
In June first instance court ruled upheld Leedo’s claim against Delfi for
personal insults made against him in anonymous comments written by Delfi’s
readers and ordered Delfi to pay Leedo EEK 5,000 kroons. Leedo had claimed in
damages half a million kroons from Delfi which was EEK 25,000 per every
insulting comment.
Delfi appealed the ruling, but now lost also in the second instance
court.
„Operators of such online portals cannot be responsible for the comments made
by their readers,“ Andrus Raudsalu, CEO of Delfi, said then.
„This is not the question of compensation we must pay Leedo, but it is a
principle issue,“ said Raudsalu, adding that Delfi refuses to pay damages to
Leedo awarded by the court.
“We cannot retreat anywhere since the whole Estonian Internet community is
behind us,” said Jehe, adding that Estonian decision-makers have not understood
the essence of new online media and still regard it as print media. “Comments
published on our website are not similar to letters that readers write to
newspapers which then read or edit them and print them. Comments on our website
are a means of communication between the readers themselves,” he said.
According to Jehe, most public websites in Estonia such as hot.ee, rate.ee,
online newspapers, photo and video websites, etc. allow readers to add content
to their site. “Does it mean that if a person buys a second-hand car based on a
private ad published on the website and the car turns out to be crap, then the
owner of the website is responsible?”