Human Rights and Social Media: The European Court of Human Rights in the Digital Era

Abstract

Social media and the Internet have undisputable usefulness and potential. However, they also entail risks and dangers, which may produce repercussions on human rights. This is demonstrated by the growing litigation before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which has dealt with novel questions, problematic issues and potential human rights violations associated with the use of social media. This contribution examines the Court’s approach to the use of social media as a new tool of communication. This is done by looking at three different perspectives, corresponding to the main sections of the text. The first section (section 2) is devoted to social media as used by the ECtHR itself, providing examples of how these means of communication are used in Strasbourg for different purposes. The second and third sections (sections 3 and 4) address the topic of social media in the litigation before the ECtHR from two angles: substantively, by looking at the relevant case law involving human rights violations; and procedurally, by considering the admissibility of the use of social media as a means of lodging an application with the Court, and the use of social media to maintain lawyer – applicant contact during the proceedings. In the analysis of the substantive and procedural issues stemming from the social media – human rights nexus, examples will be provided with regard to different tools, such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp. The case law considered here covers different areas involving social media, such as freedom of expression, the right to respect for private life, prohibition of discrimination, hate speech and cyberviolence. By way of conclusion, the article will provide an overall evaluation of the ECtHR’s approach to social media.