Opinion

How the law to punish social media bullying failed twice

How the law to punish social media bullying failed twice

By Aurora Mura/ Bullied on social networks for more than a year, a 41-year-old young woman ended her life in Sukth, Durrës. But this serious event, which has shocked the entire public opinion today, finds Albania still without a law that punishes insults and denigration on social media.

It was exactly 9 years ago when, for the first time, a legal initiative was filed in Parliament by the former deputy of the Democratic Party, Majlinda Bregu, which aimed to discipline exactly this behavior on social media.

It was precisely about a draft law that would block offensive and derogatory comments in online media, while charging their administrators with responsibility to prevent the publication of any comment "that harms the honor, personality, or reputation of a person" (as unfortunately happened tragedy).

The bill was never passed into law, as it sparked a lot of opposition at the time, mostly from portals that feared censorship and other penalties.

Another similar initiative was the one 3 years ago by the Government with what was known as the Anti-Defamation Package, also with the aim of controlling online media and punishing public defamation in them.

However, even this draft law remained on the calendars of the Assembly, after it was dropped by decree of the President after a great public uproar and the ruling majority was forced to withdraw once again.

The reason was almost the same: the protection of free speech, - but in its name the most vulnerable were harmed, like the woman who remained a victim to "save" the stolen honor.

If this law existed, the woman's abused videos and photos, which disappeared shortly after she decided to end her life, could have been removed a year ago when she first reported the bullying.

How the law to punish social media bullying failed twice

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