14
MAGYAR TARTALOMSZOLGÁLTATÓK EGYESÜLETE AND INDEX.HU ZRT
v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT
59. The Court has found that, as a matter of principle, the rights
guaranteed under Articles 8 and 10 deserve equal respect, and the outcome
of an application should not vary according to whether it has been lodged
with the Court under Article 10 of the Convention by the publisher of an
offending article or under Article 8 of the Convention by the person who
has been the subject of that article. Accordingly, the margin of appreciation
should in principle be the same in both cases (see Axel Springer AG, cited
above, § 87, and Von Hannover v. Germany (no. 2) [GC], nos. 40660/08
and 60641/08, § 106, ECHR 2012, with further references to the cases of
Hachette Filipacchi Associés, cited above, § 41; Timciuc v. Romania (dec.),
no. 28999/03, § 144, 12 October 2010; and Mosley v. the United Kingdom,
no. 48009/08, § 111, 10 May 2011). Where the balancing exercise between
those two rights has been undertaken by the national authorities in
conformity with the criteria laid down in the Court’s case-law, the Court
would require strong reasons to substitute its view for that of the domestic
courts (see Axel Springer AG, cited above, § 88, and Von Hannover (no. 2),
cited above, § 107, with further references to MGN Limited, cited above,
§§ 150 and 155; and Palomo Sánchez and Others v. Spain [GC],
nos. 28955/06, 28957/06, 28959/06 and 28964/06, § 57, 12 September
2011). In other words, there will usually be a wide margin afforded by the
Court if the State is required to strike a balance between competing private
interests or competing Convention rights (see Delfi AS, cited above, § 139;
Evans v. the United Kingdom [GC], no. 6339/05, § 77, ECHR 2007-I;
Chassagnou and Others v. France [GC], nos. 25088/94, 28331/95 and
28443/95, § 113, ECHR 1999-III; and Ashby Donald and Others v. France,
no. 36769/08, § 40, 10 January 2013).
(b) Application of those principles to the present case
(i) Preliminary remarks and applicable criteria
60. In order to determine the standards applicable in the instant case, the
Court will consider the nature of the applicants’ rights of expression in view
of their role in the process of communication and the specific interest
protected by the interference, namely – as was implied by the domestic
courts – the rights of others.
61. The Court notes that both the first applicant, as a self-regulatory
body of internet service providers, and the second applicant, as a large news
portal, provided forum for the exercise of expression rights, enabling the
public to impart information and ideas. Thus, the Court shares the
Constitutional Court’s view according to which the applicants’ conduct
must be assessed in the light of the principles applicable to the press (see
paragraph 25 above).
62. The Court reiterates in this regard that although not publishers of the
comments in the traditional sense, Internet news portals must, in principle,