ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the most recent case-law of the European Court of Human Rights dealing with freedom of expression when contracting States are faced with questions concerning the imposition of intermediary liability for unlawful user comments posted online anonymously or under a pseudonym. Difficult tensions arise on the Internet between freedom of expression on the one hand, and the right to privacy and personality rights on the other. It is axiomatic that the Internet has had a dramatic impact on the form, scope, and patterns of human communications. The chapter focuses on some criticism levied at the judgment in Delfi AS, to the extent possible in light of the author’s position as a serving judge of the Strasbourg Court. In Delfi AS, the news portal in question was one of the largest in Estonia and was run on a commercial basis. The portal published its own content which was then open to user comments.
