after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 4 June 2019, gives the following Judgment 1 This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 15(1) of Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the internal market (‘Directive on electronic commerce’) (OJ 2000 L 178, p. 1). 2 The request has been made in proceedings between Ms Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek and Facebook Ireland Limited whose registered address is in Ireland, concerning the publication on the page of a hosted user on the social network Facebook of a message containing statements harmful to the reputation of Ms Glawischnig-Piesczek. Legal context EU law 3 Recitals 6, 7, 9, 10, 40, 41, 45 to 48, 52, 58 and 60 of Directive 2000/31 state: ‘(6) … by dealing only with certain specific matters which give rise to problems for the internal market, this Directive is fully consistent with the need to respect the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. (7) In order to ensure legal certainty and consumer confidence, this Directive must lay down a clear and general framework to cover certain legal aspects of electronic commerce in the internal market. … (9) The free movement of information society services can in many cases be a specific reflection in Community law of a more general principle, namely freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 10(1) of the [European] Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, [signed in Rome on 4 November 1950,] which has been ratified by all the Member States; for this reason, directives covering the supply of information society services must ensure that this activity may be engaged in freely in the light of that Article, subject only to the restrictions laid down in paragraph 2 of that Article and in Article 46(1) of the Treaty; this Directive is not intended to affect national fundamental rules and principles relating to freedom of expression. (10) In accordance with the principle of proportionality, the measures provided for in this Directive are strictly limited to the minimum needed to achieve the objective of the proper functioning of the internal market; where action at Community level is necessary, and in order to guarantee an area which is truly without internal frontiers as far as electronic commerce is concerned, the Directive must ensure a high level of protection of objectives of general interest, in particular the protection of minors and human dignity, consumer protection and the protection of public health; … … (40) Both existing and emerging disparities in Member States’ legislation and case-law concerning liability of service providers acting as intermediaries prevent the smooth functioning of the internal market, in particular by impairing the development of cross-border services and producing distortions of competition; service providers have a duty to act, under certain circumstances, with a