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29/09/2023, 12:35 SANCHEZ v. FRANCE - 45581/15 (Judgment : No Article 10 - Freedom of expression-{general} : Grand Chamber) [2023] ECHR 418 (1… 78. In Glawischnig-Piesczek v. Facebook Ireland of 3 October 2019 (C- 18/18, EU:C:2019:821), the CJEU ruled that 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 (OJ L 178 of 17 July 2000, pp. 1-16), in particular Article 15 § 1 thereof, had to be interpreted as not precluding a court of a member State from: ordering a host provider like Facebook to remove information which it stored, the content of which was identical to the content of information which was previously declared to be unlawful, or to block access to that information, irrespective of who requested the storage of that information ordering a host provider to remove information which it stored, the content of which was equivalent to the content of information which was previously declared to be unlawful, or to block access to that information, provided that the monitoring of and search for the information concerned by such an injunction were limited to information conveying a message the content of which remained essentially unchanged compared with the content which gave rise to the finding of illegality and containing the elements specified in the injunction, and provided that the differences in the wording of that equivalent content, compared with the wording characterising the information which was previously declared to be illegal, were not such as to require the host provider to carry out an independent assessment of that content; and ordering a host provider to remove information covered by the injunction or to block access to that information worldwide within the framework of the relevant international law. Lastly, a court could also order a host to delete information concerned by the order or to block access to it worldwide, in the context of the relevant international law. D. Comparative law material 79. From the information in the Court’s possession it can be seen that the liability of individual holders of social media accounts in respect of comments posted by others on their “walls” or accounts is an issue which has not been dealt with specifically in thirty-four member States of the Council of Europe: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, BosniaHerzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, the Republic of North Macedonia, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. To date, in only six of these States has the matter been addressed in one way or another (Austria, Croatia, Germany, Romania, Sweden and Türkiye), together with Switzerland (judgment of the Federal Court of 7 April 2022, case no. 6B 1360/2021). Some national courts have interpreted the existing legal norms relating to Internet hosts https://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2023/418.html 43/100

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Sanchez v. France (GC)

Case Law

Country

France

Country Location

Latitude: 46.808568018841505

Longitude: 2.799314618110868

Country Location (linked Case Law): France

Decision Date: May 15, 2023

Case Status: Closed

Case Outcome (Procedural)

Dismissed
Inadmissible
Motion Denied

Case Outcome (Disposition)

Judgment in Favor of Defendant/ Acquittal

Keywords

Access to Information
Content Regulation / Censorship
Digital Rights

Judicial Body: European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

Court Name: European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

Case Number: 45581/15

Case Summary: The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) dismissed the application brought by Mr Julien Sanchez against France for an alleged violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by reason of the criminal conviction imposed on him by France—after he failed to remove hateful comments on his Facebook “wall”. Mr Sanchez, a politician in France and a candidate in the legislative elections, had been fined—in a criminal procedure—by French courts for failing to remove from his Facebook wall comments made by third parties that were discriminatory and incited hatred or violence against the Muslim community. The applicant argued that the fine violated his right to freedom of expression by requiring him to bear the disproportionate burden of monitoring all comments posted at any time by other users on his open and public Facebook wall. Mr Sanchez applied to the European Court of Human Rights alleging a violation of Article 10. The Fifth Section of the European Court of Human Rights held that Mr Sanchez's conviction, for failing to promptly remove unlawful comments posted by third parties on the public wall of his Facebook account, did not violate his rights under Article 10 of the ECHR. The Fifth Section of the Court held that the comments were manifestly unlawful because they discriminated against the Muslim community and that the sentence imposed by the French courts penalized him for his lack of control over a communication service open to the public which he had created on his own initiative. In that regard, it stressed that Mr Sanchez, as the owner of the wall of his Facebook account, had specific obligations to monitor and remove hateful comments. Finally, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held —in a 13-4 votation— that Article 10 of the Convention had not been violated because, although France had interfered with the applicant’s freedom of expression, the interference was lawful and necessary in a democratic society and pursued a legitimate aim. The Grand Chamber held that it was not disproportionate to attribute shared liability—in varying degrees —to all the actors involved, including Mr Sanchez in his capacity as owner of the Facebook wall, for failing to take action in relation to the discriminatory comments. The ECtHR highlighted that the duty to act reasonably, in light of the circumstances, was greater for the applicant in his capacity as a politician, and that Mr Sanchez was aware of the controversial comments posted on his social network.

Case Significance: The decision establishes a binding or persuasive precedent within its jurisdiction.

Related Caselaw (self)

Source URL: Global Freedom of Expression

Collection

CIPIT

Date Updated: Sep 29, 2023

Primary Documents

SANCHEZ v. FRANCE - 45581_15 (Judgment _ No Article 10 - Freedom of expression-{general} _ Grand Chamber) [2023] ECHR 418 (15 May 2023).pdf
English
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CYRILLA: Global Digital Rights Law

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Sanchez v. France (GC)

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