Online Battlefield: the Legal Landscape of Ukraine’s Internet Censorship Before and After the 2022 Russian Invasion

Pavlo Burdiak

doi:10.31861/mhpi2023.47.195-205

Authors

Pavlo Burdiak University of Szeged https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0319-5412

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31861/mhpi2023.47.195-205

Keywords:

Ukraine, Internet censorship, restriction of freedom of opinion, restriction of freedom of information, information confrontation, Russia-Ukraine hybrid war

Abstract

The article investigates the regulatory framework for exercising Internet censorship in Ukraine in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war. The regulation of Ukraine’s Internet censorship is considered in two areas – the freedom of opinion limitations and the freedom of information limitations. Special attention is paid to identifying the peculiarities of Internet censorship regulation in Ukraine before and after the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion. In this scientific investigation, comparative analytical and law-in-context methods are employed. The article reveals that before the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion, Ukrainian authorities were reinterpreting existing legislative provisions enshrined in the Criminal Code and the Law “On Sanctions” in order to limit the spread of pro-Russian opinions and information in the Ukrainian segment of the Internet. Following the Russian intervention in 2022, Ukraine amended its Criminal Code, adopted the new Law “On Media”, and declared martial law, allowing for more effective Internet censorship policies on the Russian front.

Author Biography

Pavlo Burdiak , University of Szeged

PhD student at the Doctoral School of Law and Political Sciences

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