Libertatea de expresie și combaterea discursului instigator la ură în mediul digital

Curbing hate speech and incitement to violence is becoming an important challenge for ECtHR jurisprudence, as the Internet can be the instrument for the global dissemination of unlawful speech and remains available online. New developments in ICTs and social changes in European society have led to an increase in the proliferation of hate speech online, and thus to a paradigm shift in the case law of the ECtHR. The paper focuses on the study of the ECtHR case-law on combating online hate speech and how it has succeeded in crystallizing a set of principles and norms that have formed the basis for constitutionalizion of the right to freedom of expression in the digital environment. This is closely linked to the legislative documents adopted in the European area for the protection of fundamental rights in the digital area, with a few comments on how the new Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065) could indeed constitute a real reform in the field of combating hate speech. The conclusions point to the need for consistent and unified regulation of hate speech in order to effectively address its restriction in the digital environment.