MAGYAR JETI ZRT v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT
3
The words “uploaded to YouTube” appeared in green, indicating that
they served as anchor text to a hyperlink to the YouTube video. By clicking
on the green text, readers could open a new web page leading to the video
hosted on the youtube.com website.
10. The article was subsequently updated three times – on 6 and
12 September and 1 October 2016 – to reflect newly available information,
including an official response from the police.
11. The hyperlink to the YouTube video was further reproduced on three
other websites, operated by other media outlets.
12. On 13 October 2013 the political party Jobbik brought defamation
proceedings under Article 78 of the Civil Code before the Debrecen High
Court against eight defendants, including J.Gy., Roma Produkciós Iroda
Alapítvány, the applicant company, and other media outlets which had
provided links to the impugned video. It argued that by using the term
“Jobbik” to describe the football supporters and by publishing a hyperlink to
the YouTube video, the defendants had infringed its right to reputation.
13. On 30 March 2014 the High Court upheld the plaintiff’s claim,
finding that J.Gy.’s statements falsely conveyed the impression that Jobbik
had been involved in the incident in Konyár. It also found it established that
the applicant company was objectively liable for disseminating defamatory
statements and had infringed the political party’s right to reputation,
ordering it to publish excerpts of the judgment on the 444.hu website and to
remove the hyperlink to the YouTube video from the online article.
14. The judgment of the High Court contains the following relevant
passages:
“...
The Court has established that the first defendant, J.Gy., violated the plaintiff Jobbik
Magyarorszagért Mozgalom’s inherent right to protection against defamation by
falsely claiming in his statements given to the second defendant on 5 September 2013
and uploaded to youtube.com, and to the sixth defendant on 7 September and
uploaded to haon.hu, that the events that had taken place on 5 September 2013 in front
of the primary school in Konyár had been carried out by the plaintiff party, and that
the people who had taken part in them were individuals associated with the plaintiff
party. The Court has established that the second defendant, Roma Produkciós Iroda
Alapítvány; the fourth defendant, I.V.; the fifth defendant, Magyar Jeti; the sixth
defendant, Inform Média Kft; and the eighth defendant HVG Kiadó Zrt. also violated
the plaintiff’s inherent right to be protected against defamation as the second
defendant uploaded the first defendant’s false statement to youtube.com, and the
fourth defendant made it available and disseminated it on romaclub.hu, the fifth
defendant on 444.hu, the sixth defendant on haon.hu and the eighth defendant on
hvg.hu.
...
The Court obliges the first and second defendants to make the first and second
paragraphs of this judgment publicly available within 15 days and for a period of
30 days on youtube.com at their own expense, and for the fourth defendant to make
them publicly available on romaclub.hu, the fifth defendant on 444.hu, the sixth
defendant on haon.hu, and the eighth defendant on hvg.hu.