Coordinated online attacks on individuals, including through fake social media accounts, would become a criminal offence carrying up to five years in prison under a law proposal by House Legal Affairs Committee chair Fotini Tsiridou, due to be discussed on Wednesday.
The proposal would also make it an offence to maliciously publish information that can be used to locate or identify a person (doxxing), such as their home address or details of their children.
It differs from a bill the Ministry of Justice and Public Order presented about a year ago, which drew criticism that it would gag journalists and restrict freedom of expression, prompting efforts to change it.
Penalties
Under the proposal, a person who organises, coordinates, incites or knowingly makes a substantial contribution to unlawful conduct online, after prior agreement or other coordinated action with one or more others, would be guilty of organised online targeting. Prosecutors would have to prove that the person knew both that the conduct was coordinated and that its aim was to harass or intimidate a specific individual.
The offence would carry up to three years in prison, a fine of up to 30,000 euros, or both. Where the conduct makes the victim fear violence against them or a family member, or causes serious alarm or distress that substantially affects their daily life, the penalty would rise to up to five years in prison, a fine of up to 50,000 euros, or both.
Tsiridou said that people expressing views at the same time or one after another would not in itself amount to organised targeting. A common aim of harassing or intimidating a specific person would be required.
Publishing personal details
The separate offence covers cases where information such as a home address, a current or usual location, personal phone numbers, details of a workplace or details of underage family members is published without right, with the aim of causing fear or harassment, or of exposing the person to real and serious danger.
Tsiridou said this provision would not replace or limit the ‘Personal Data Law’. It targets the specific criminal wrong of using such information to intimidate or harass a person or to expose them or their family to serious danger.
Free speech safeguards
The proposal explicitly protects press freedom, investigative journalism, political criticism, academic, scientific, artistic and literary expression, satire and participation in public debate. Expressing opinions, criticising and publishing information on matters of public interest could not in themselves be considered harassment or organised online targeting.
In applying the law, account would have to be taken of how far the conduct contributes to a debate of public interest, who the affected person is, the content and form of the publication and its consequences, and how serious, lengthy and frequent the conduct is.
The proposal would also give courts more powers to ban the continuation of unlawful online conduct and to order a suspect or respondent to stop making available content under their control that appears, on the face of it, to form part of the alleged harassment.
Tsiridou told Phileleftheros the proposal aims to strengthen the ‘Protection from Harassment and Stalking Law of 2021’ so that serious harassment carried out online, through social media, messaging services and other information and communication technologies, can be tackled more effectively.
She said changes in the digital environment had made it possible to run coordinated campaigns against specific people using multiple or fake accounts, automated tools and the mass spread of content. The scale and intensity of these practices can cause fear, serious psychological strain and substantial disruption to victims’ personal, family, social or working lives, she added.
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