European Court of Human Rights rules that collateral website blocking violates freedom of expression

Abstract

Vladimir Kharitonov v Russia, No 10795/14, 23 June 2020, CE:ECHR:2020:0623JUD001079514In a decision with potential repercussions for European Union copyright, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or Strasbourg Court) has recently held that an incidental blocking of the applicant’s website as a result of a State agency’s decision to block access to another website which had the same internet protocol address as the applicant’s website violated freedom of expression.