Current legal assessment of anonymous commenting based on the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the Australian Supreme Court

Abstract

Anonymous expression has been around since the beginning of the internet. Although many people initially saw it as a positive thing, the legal, social, political and sociological problems associated with it are now clear. The present paper deals with the legal status of content that users attach to content published by traditional content providers, typically in the form of comments. These mainly contribute to developing a culture of debate on the Internet, to the common discussion of issues of interest to a wide range of people, and thus to the normal functioning of a democratic society. Still, in many cases, they also raise several legal problems. The paper compares the case law of the European supranational human rights adjudicatory forum and the Australian Supreme Court, seeking to answer the question of whether different legal cultures have different views on similar regulatory issues.