• The Polish Sejm is working on a bill to criminalize so-called “hate speech”.

· A draft directive on combating violence against women is being discussed in the European Parliament. 

· This draft may raise concerns due to its extremely broad definition of ‘violence’, as well as the government’s mandate to censor ‘offensive’ online content or its obligation to combat ‘harmful gender stereotypes’.

· The directive may also entail a restriction of the presumption of innocence in cases of sexual offences, by indirectly presuming a man’s guilt.

A few weeks ago the European Parliament adopted a directive on „protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proveedings” („strategic lawsuits against public participation” - SLAPP).

The lawyers of the Ordo Iuris Institute have filed a lawsuit against Google on behalf of Paweł Lisicki. The reason is that the programmes run by the journalist are described as allegedly spreading "hate speech".

Many Internet users face the problem of censorship in social media. This was the focus of the debate organised by the Ordo Iuris Institute as part of the Warsaw conference of the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe.