=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2392/paper9
|storemode=property
|title=Legal Mechanism of Counteracting Information Aggression in Social Networks: from Theory to Practice
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2392/paper9.pdf
|volume=Vol-2392
|authors=Andriy Peleschyshyn,Tetiana Klynina,Sergiy Gnatyuk
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/coapsn/PeleschyshynKG19
}}
==Legal Mechanism of Counteracting Information Aggression in Social Networks: from Theory to Practice==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2392/paper9.pdf
Legal Mechanism of Counteracting Information
Aggression in Social Networks: from Theory to Practice
Andriy Peleschyshyn1[0000-0002-5022-0410], Tetiana Klynina2[0000-0002-0334-9852], and
Sergiy Gnatyuk2 [0000-0003-4992-0564]
1
Lviv Polytechnic National University, Lviv, Ukraine
2
National Aviation University, Kyiv, Ukraine
apele@ridne.net, tklynina@gmail.com, s.gnatyuk@nau.edu.ua
Abstract. An open public discourse is one of the basic conditions of
democracy, because this is how citizens can discuss their common matters,
form political opinions and ultimately reach a decision for themselves. To have
a lively and rational discourse, media freedom, individual freedom of expres-
sion and the right to receive information are equally needed. Today’s media en-
vironment gives individuals the chance to express their ideas at every possible
instance – in this respect, the pluralism of ideas is overwhelming. This over-
whelming volume of information makes navigation and access to trustworthy
information a hard task. Today social networks created a new public space that
can be flexibly utilized to get any message to selected parts of the audience. It
has no national boundaries, a feature that can be used not only for good purpos-
es, but often for bad ones such such as slander. The article is noted that social
networks act as a separate sphere for the emergence, change or termination of
civil legal relations, therefore the urgent question is to clarify the application of
the legal mechanism in the fight against information aggression, which includes
the following components: the discovery of inaccurate information, which is not
just an appraisal judgments, but frankly slander outlining the range of probable
defendants; making an application to the court in accordance with the
requirements of national legislation; proving the fact of unreliability by
providing evidence.
Keywords: Social Networks, Informational Aggression, Legal Mechanism,
Network laws.
1 Introduction
The process of informatization in the late XX - early XXI century was marked by the
emergence of an innovative social phenomenon - social networks, which at the stage
of its formation were used primarily for communication and entertainment. However,
now we see that social networks have become not only a complete tool for doing
business, but also a means of popularizing and representing state authorities, educa-
tional institutions, enterprises, public figures, etc., due to the presence of a target au-
dience in networks that is often highlighted today aggression in it. Every day mil-
lions of Internet users leave aggressive on-line comments on social networks such as
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., to voice public criticism, personal indignation or
simply release pairs.
In many cases, these comments include rough remarks and addressed to companies,
public and state figures, ordinary people, adolescents and others. The forms of such
verbal information aggression are diverse and different from expressions of disgust
and contempt to defamation, insults and hatred. In relationships that arise in social
networks are governed primarily by local acts of these networks, which establish the
basic rules for their use.
The social networks themselves are usually not responsible for violating the rights of
others, as they are explicitly mentioned in user agreements during registration. In this
regard, the question often arises: should react and respond to aggression and how to
do it correctly? And since social networks today act as a separate sphere for the emer-
gence, change or termination of civil legal relations, therefore the question becomes
the construction of an algorithm of action within the legal field.
2 Related Works
Social networks as a phenomenon of modern society were investigated by foreign
scholars such as D. Bell, M. Castells, A. Toffler, A. The problems of the formation of
social networks, their main provisions and the principles of their use are devoted to
the works of D. Westerman, B. van der Heide, C. Tonga, L. Langwell, J. Kim, J. An-
tony.
A number of Ukrainian scholars have studied the issues of communication, communi-
cative environment and dialogue in social networks. In particular, A.M. Pelesh-
chyshyn, R.O. Korzh, O.V. Markovets, etc., in their previous studies proposed a clas-
sification of mechanisms for protecting the reputation of information media entities in
social networks from deliberate targeted compromise, in particular for institutions of
higher education.
We do not see any fundamental restrictions on extending the scope of this classifica-
tion to a wider range of entities, such as public organi-zations, government agencies,
commercial entities and private individuals in particular.
However, unfortunately, the specified work does not detail the tools of each class and
does not define clear rules and scenarios for its application. That is why the specific
possible tools of each class will be explored, the conditions of their application, and
the indicative schemes of scenario layout between them. Let's now detail the legal
tools.
According to Article 3 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person, his life and health,
honor and dignity, inviolability and security are recognized in Ukraine as the highest
social value, which in itself enshrines the duty of everyone not to encroach upon the
honor and dignity of other people [20].
Also, according to Art. 201 of the Civil Code of Ukraine (hereinafter - CCU) honor,
dignity and business reputation relate to personal non-property benefits, are intact and
subject to judicial protection, which is regulated by Art. 297 CCU [19].
Thus, an individual who has suffered as a result of the distribution of inaccurate in-
formation, within the legal field has the right to reply, as well as to refute such infor-
mation.
However, the following differences should be taken into account:
a) when refuted, distributed information is considered to be inaccurate, and in the
exercise of the right to reply - a person has the right to cover his or her own point
of view regarding the widespread information and circumstances of violation of
personal non-property rights without acknowledging it to be unreliable;
b) falsifies the person who disseminated it inaccurate information, and the answer
is given by the person in respect of which the information is disseminated [20].
3 Legal Mechanism Of Counteracting Information Aggression
In Social Networks
The legal mechanism of counteracting information aggression in social networks is
based on the use of the legal framework of the state, legal acts regulating the spheres
of information activity and the Internet. A typical example of such an instrument is
the appeal to law enforcement agencies regarding the detention of slander in social
networks.
However, it should be noted that direct access to such law enforcement agencies as
the police or the prosecutor's office, in most cases, will not result in any of the desira-
ble ones for the applicant. This is due to the fact that after the cessation of the validity
of the Criminal Code of Ukraine of 1960, which was replaced by the Criminal Code
of Ukraine in 2001, from the criminal law, such a crime as defamation has disap-
peared, since it was not included in the new code that, in essence, made him more
progressive and guaranteed the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the Con-
stitution [13].
In addition, in Ukraine today there is practically no legislative framework to deal with
certain threats spreading in social networks, which weakens the possibility of attract-
ing legal instruments. Thus, in the text of the key law in this area "On the main prin-
ciples of providing cyber security of Ukraine", directly in the text (item 3 of Article 2)
excluded from the objects of attraction of the law (hereinafter quoted) «social net-
works, private electronic information resources on the Internet (including blog plat-
forms, video hosts, and other web resources)» [3].
However, the very term "slander" has been preserved in other legislative acts, in par-
ticular in the Law of Ukraine "On Information" (defined by the notion of appraisal
judgment) [1] and in the Constitution of Ukraine (Part 1, Article 80), which gives
grounds for appeal to the court [23].
However, in order to go to court, it is first necessary to find out whether the legal
structure of the offense, in the presence of which your claim will be satisfied, in other
words, to understand whether the information is false only evaluative judgments, that
is, the thought or assumption of a person who is not can be a subject for refutation.
If it was found that false information is still a slander, we move on to the second
stage, where it is necessary to clearly identify who will be the defendant in the case.
Since we are talking about material as information that is posted on the social network
and treated by us as a slander, insult, cybersquatting, humiliating our honor and digni-
ty, etc., there may be some problems with the defendant's definition.
Defendants in a case concerning the defense of dignity, honor, or business reputation
are natural or legal persons who have disseminated inaccurate information, as well as
the author of this information. All would be nothing, if the author or distributor of
defamation, he is also a potential defendant, a person is known. But we are talking
about social networks, where the "creator" of inaccurate information can hide under
the pseudonym, or may not be indicated at all.
But, for example, in accordance with the Facebook Terms of Service, the user under-
takes not to place inaccurate information in the account; in addition, there is a direct
obligation to specify accurate information and to constantly update it. However, in
reality, service providers do not have time to monitor compliance with these provi-
sions, which again provides a field for maneuvers from the side of users.
If the author of the information is unknown or his identity and / or place of residence
(location) cannot be established, and when the information is anonymous and access
to the network is free, the proper respondent in this case becomes the owner of the
social network or the website where the specified informational material, since it cre-
ated the technological opportunity and conditions for the distribution of inaccurate
information. To bring the owner of the network accountable, it must be proved that
the controversial information was disseminated precisely on this network [20].
Today, however, social networking owners are trying to limit their responsibility for
the information that is posted on the network. In addition, social networks often point
out at the same time that they refuse to be liable in such cases.
For example, in the already mentioned Facebook Terms of Service, which, before the
registration, according to the general rules, the user must read and accept, the (further
quotation) states ("the quotation) that" we do not control the actions and statements of
people and others, we do not direct them and we do not bear responsibility for their
actions and behavior (on the Internet and outside the Internet) and any content they
share (including offensive, inappropriate, obscene, illegal or illegitimate for other
reasons)» [8].
The situation with the responsibility of the website owner is even more interesting. If
the owner of the website is unknown, the data on him may be requested by the admin-
istrator of the system of registration and registration of domain names and addresses
of the Ukrainian segment of the Internet.
However, all this is possible if the domain is registered in Ukraine and there is access
to information about the owner of the website. In case if the domain is registered not
in Ukraine and there is no access to the information about the owner, the injured per-
son may apply to the court in a separate proceeding with a statement on the estab-
lishment of the fact of inaccurate information.
But, this option has several drawbacks: first, the burden of proof from the defendant is
automatically translated into the applicant, that is, the non-distributor of inaccurate
information has to prove the truthfulness of the information; on the contrary, the
plaintiff must prove that the information disclosed about him is defamatory; and sec-
ondly, it bears the costs of refuting this information; thirdly, the mere fact that the
information is unreliable cannot solve the problem of its dissemination and will not
automatically lead to the deletion of this information.
But in a situation where the anonymous material is published, the domain name is
registered in another country to a private individual, or it may even be on the wagon,
which is not possible to set, this is probably the only way out.
The next step in implementing the legal method is to file a lawsuit in a court that must
meet certain requirements. Such an application must contain, in particular, infor-
mation on how the information that violates the personal non-proprietary rights of the
plaintiff (the applicant) is disseminated, which information is distributed by the de-
fendant (respondents), indicating the time, method and persons to whom such infor-
mation has been communicated.
Other circumstances of a legal significance, references to evidence to support each of
these circumstances, as well as indication of the method of protection in which the
plaintiff wishes to protect his or her violated right.
However, directly in the courtroom, during the hearing on the merits, the plaintiff will
have to prove that this information has become known to at least one third person. It
does not matter how the person received the indicated information (read, saw or
heard).
Secondly, you will need to prove that this information relates to you. In order for the
information to have a relationship with a particular person, it does not necessarily
have to be given her last name - it is enough that this information contains certain
signs, from which it becomes obvious who it concerns.
Thirdly, it will be necessary to prove that the information given is false and violates
your personal non-proprietary rights. It is the providence of the latter fact that is the
main reason for the satisfaction of the claim, as it happens when the court refuses to
satisfy the claims, because it does not see the violation of the right to respect for hon-
or and dignity, because of the fact that valuation judgments, except for insult or slan-
der is not subject to judicial protection.
However, to prove that the disseminated information is unreliable, certain evidence
needs to be provided. In accordance with clause 5 of Art. 177 of the Civil Procedure
Code of Ukraine, the plaintiff is obliged to add to the statement of claim all evidence
available to him that confirms the circumstances on which the claims are based (if the
plaintiff can file written or electronic evidence, he may add a copy of the relevant
evidence to the claim statement) [19].
Previously, information that was posted on the social network was submitted to the
court most often in paper form (printouts of the user's page or screenshot) and was
one of the types of written evidence.
However, this issue was followed by a lack of unity among judges. Some courts ac-
cepted this evidence, investigated, evaluated and taken into account when making a
decision.
Others did not accept the printed content of the pages in social networks as valid and
admissible evidence, explaining that the printouts of pages from the Internet do not
prove the fact of the placement of the relevant information, and most importantly, the
person who placed the information. That is, the special attention in this case caused
the possibility of identifying the person who created and published the information
(post, comment, letter, etc.).
This was due to the fact that social networks can register any person and under any
name, and therefore the given name or login does not allow identification of the per-
son. That is why the court, for the most part, came to the conclusion that such evi-
dence is inappropriate and permissible, since it does not include identification of indi-
viduals. However, with the adoption of new legislation, and the emergence of a new
type of evidence-electronic, it would seem that the problem of the correct use of this
evidence in the trial should have disappeared, but in practice this had the opposite
effect. Of course, Art. 100 of the Civil Code of Ukraine states that electronic evidence
is information in an electronic (digital) form that contains the circumstances relevant
to the case, in particular:
─ electronic documents (including text documents, graphic images, plans, photo-
graphs, video and audio recordings, etc.),
─ websites (pages),
─ text,
─ multimedia
─ voice messages,
─ metadata,
─ databases,
─ other data in electronic form.
Such data may be stored, for example, on portable devices (memory cards, mobile
phones, etc.), servers, back-up systems, and other places of data storage in electronic
form (including the Internet) [22].
However, the courts continue to make collisional decisions, noting that such evidence
does not have the requisites, which confirms their integrity. However, some materials
of the judicial practice indicate the recognition of such evidence, provided that there
are no objections from other persons involved in the case [12].
The next gap relates to the problem of defining the concept of "original" and "copy"
of electronic evidence, which are still undisclosed. In addition, paper copies of elec-
tronic evidence must be certified in the manner prescribed by law.
In Art. 75 of the Law "On Notary" there is a norm which grants the right to notaries
and officials of local self-government bodies who carry out notarial acts to certify the
authenticity of copies of documents [4]. But is there a web-screenshot of this kind of
document? In the opinion of many scholars, a webpage cannot be identified with such
a document, since such documents must contain the name of the business entity, the
date, the signature of the authorized person, and in some cases the seal. In addition,
the web page does not always contain a link to the subject that uses the website [12].
Accordingly, Ukrainian notaries are denied the implementation of the web-site review
protocol because of the lack of such a notarial act in the Law "On Notary" and in the
Procedure for Notarial Acts by Notaries of Ukraine [4; 14].
Also, problems may arise when submitting copies of electronic evidence, such as
photographs, since the courts do not accept such evidence in connection with the vio-
lation of their requirements.
If the plaintiff decides to use his legitimate right to protect himself from compromised
information, he should pay attention to all of it advantages and disadvantages (see
Table 1).
Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of the legal mechanism.
Advantages of the legal mechanism Disadvantages of the legal mechanism
─ high cost of application (lawyers' services, etc.);
─ obligatory performance of the ob-
─ the statement of unreliability of the information
tained results and the quality of their
will not solve the problem of its dissemination
reliability;
and will not automatically lead to the deletion of
─ application of legal and force re-
this information;
sources of the state, including puni-
─ the lack of a clear legal definition between the
tive possibilities (civil and criminal
notion of "judicious judgment" and "false infor-
liability of the aggressor);
mation", which allows the law to be used arbi-
─ lack of notion of limitation, which
trarily;
makes it possible to seek protection
─ frequent ambiguity of interpretation of results and
of their non-new rights at any time
low efficiency in the conditions of anonymity
after the discovery of aggression;
─ the statement of unreliability of the information
─ informally constructed social image
will not solve the problem of its dissemination
of "a person, institution or organiza-
and will not automatically lead to the deletion of
tion that is dangerous to attack";
this information;
─ an international tendency to increase
─ complexity in implementation in the distributed
the responsibility of the community
environment, which is regulated by the legislation
administration for the aggressive ac-
of different countries;
tions of individual participants.
─ slow deployment and implementation
─ the fact that the destruction of information on the
network in the future makes it impossible to prove
the fact of the offense.
However, more effective in this case will be the focus not on the advantages or disad-
vantages, but on compliance with the rules and the algorithm of the application of the
legal mechanism.
Taking into account the correct observance of the proposed algorithm of action (see
Table 2), a court may compel a person who disseminated false information to refute
them within a month from the date of the decision. In other words, in our case, if such
information was distributed on a page in the social network, its refutation should be
placed in the same way.
Fig. 1. Algorithm for the application of the legal mechanism.
4 Conclusions
The right to protection is a constitutional right of a person. The exercise of the right to
protection at its discretion means that the right-holder has the opportunity to choose
the type of conduct - to exercise or not to exercise his right to protection, to choose
the forms and methods of protection of the violated right. Civil legal relations in so-
cial networks have their own peculiarities, which are connected with the specific vir-
tual sphere of their occurrence and peculiar subjective composition. This is due to the
complexity of legal regulation of various types of civil relations that exist in the field
of social networks. The common problem is that each network currently has its own
terms of use, which usually protects service owners from liability for violating rights,
freedoms and legitimate interests in this area. However, despite this, offensive
speeches should not be left out of the attention of the person they are concerned and
need to be addressed by appropriate legal means, which in turn may become a deter-
rent to the person being subjected to further dissemination of offensive information
character.
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