Georgia
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The ruling Georgian Dream party has announced they will extend legislative changes on broadcasting ‘standards’ to online media.
The news was announced by Georgian Dream MP Archil Gorduladze during a session of parliament’s Economic Committee on Monday.
Amendments to the broadcasting law passed their first reading in parliament in March. If passed, the changes would allow the authorities to penalise perceived violations of broadcasting standards and bar TV media from receiving money from abroad.
However, a call soon came from the ruling party’s satellite, People’s Power, to regulate not only TV media but also ‘social networks’ through the law.
Speaking during the committee session on Monday, Gorduladze stated that ‘given that technology is evolving and information is being spread through various means, legislative changes must also exist to address all of this’.
Gorduladze said these changes would be included in the bill and that the definitions of ‘internet service’ and ‘provider’ would be introduced.
According to the definition provided by the authors, ‘internet service’ will be defined as ‘the placement of information by an internet service provider’ on an internet domain or through internet hosting owned by it, as well as through its application or third-party information-sharing platforms, including ‘social networks’. According to Gorduladze, the regulation would only apply to information disseminated in the Georgian language.
‘As for the internet media service provider, it will be considered a broadcaster or another party which, either individually or in cooperation with others, owns or uses an internet domain and internet hosting for the dissemination of mass information in the state language’, Gorduladze added.
Gorduladze also said that the measures of accountability for internet media service providers would be the same as those for broadcasters, including warnings and fines in cases where warnings were disregarded.
He also offered to define ‘the termination of the relevant internet domain or internet hosting operation’ as one of the punitive measures, given that a similar measure already applies to TV broadcasters.
Gorduladze emphasised that the amendment would not apply to individuals.
‘This refers to organisations that call themselves media and function as media but do not operate as broadcasters. Their means and method of disseminating information are not television; rather, they use websites as well as various applications for information distribution and have a structured format’, Gorduladze added.
The revised version of the bill has not yet been published. However, based on the explanations provided by Gorduladze, it appeared that the bill would cover not only online media outlets and their social media platforms but also the websites and social media pages of TV broadcasters.
Gorduladze did not rule out the possibility that a ‘more precise definition’ might be presented to parliament during the second reading.
More about the changes
The legislative amendments approved by Georgian Dream in the first reading consisted of two main parts.
The first part, which the ruling party intended to extend to online media as well, concerned the regulation of coverage standards.
According to an analysis by the local rights group the Social Justice Centre (SJC), many of the regulations presented in the bill are drawn from the currently existing Code of Conduct for Broadcasters.
However, under the current legislation, the authority to respond to violations of broadcasting standards lies with self-regulatory bodies within the broadcasters themselves. But if the amendments were passed, the same authority would be also granted to a state body — the National Communications Commission.
‘In cases of alleged violations, any interested party will be able to file a complaint directly with the Communications Commission’, the organisation stated, emphasising that the commission will have the authority to impose several sanctions, including warnings, a fine, and, in certain cases, the suspension or revocation of a broadcasting license.
The SJC assessed the amendments as an ‘undermining of media and freedom of expression’ in Georgia.
According to the amendments, in news programmes, as well as in coverage of other public policy issues, the expression of a position is restricted, with viewers clearly notified whether a programme is news-based or opinion-based.
The proposed amendments also state that a person against whom accusations are made on air must be given the opportunity to provide a timely and proper response. The response must be reported fairly and accurately.
The legislative changes also defined cases in which obtaining or transmitting information by covert methods is justified and defined the standard for covert recording on private property.
The second part of the bill, if passed, would prohibit broadcasters from receiving direct or indirect funding — including money or other material benefits of property value — from ‘a foreign power’.
Also included within the proposed amendments is a new clause which would prohibit a broadcaster from ‘receiving direct or indirect funding in exchange for placing social advertising’.
The ruling party did not specify if the restrictions on funding would also extend to online media outlets.
One of many changes
The changes to the broadcasting law are just one of many legislative changes being quickly pushed through by Georgian Dream that threaten to undermine democracy in the country.
The list also included a copy of the US FARA legislation, amendments that would criminalise treason, abolition of the mention of gender in Georgia’s legislation, and the exclusion of civil society organisations from all official decision-making processes, as well as the stricter drug policy.
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These amendments are not the first attempt of the ruling party to target the independent media, alongside the civil society organisations.
The current controversial foreign agent law labels any civil society or media organisation that receives at least 20% of its funding from abroad ‘organisations carrying out the interests of a foreign power’.
However, this year, Georgian Dream and its allies concluded that the current law was insufficient and sought to replace it.
The party has repeatedly claimed that the new bills are necessary to fight the ‘influence of external forces’.
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