Libertad de Expresión y Límites Penales en la Ley de Comunicación: Un Análisis Jurídico de la Normativa Ecuatoriana Vigente

This study analyzes the relationship between freedom of expression and criminal limits established in current Ecuadorian communication regulations, determining the scope, restrictions, and guarantees that the national legal system provides for exercising this fundamental right. A qualitative legal-doctrinal methodology was implemented with a descriptive-analytical approach and explanatory scope, through systematic documentary review of primary and secondary normative sources, legal content analysis, and application of the hermeneutic-legal method. The normative corpus included the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, Organic Communication Law, Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code, constitutional jurisprudence, and international human rights standards. Results show that Ecuador has developed a guarantee-based constitutional framework for freedom of expression, but presents deficiencies in secondary normative implementation that generate sanctioning disproportionality between criminal and administrative types, partial incompatibility with Inter-American human rights standards, and restrictions that facilitate journalistic self-censorship. The research concludes that there is an urgent need for comprehensive legislative reform that harmonizes constitutional, criminal, and administrative provisions, specifies indeterminate legal concepts, and updates the regulatory framework for contemporary digital environments, following proportionality and legality criteria developed by specialized Inter-American jurisprudence.