Ruling party proposes bill banning media content involving hate speech, calls to terrorism

MPs from the ruling Georgian Dream party have proposed amendments to the country’s Law on Broadcasting to include ban on ads or other media content containing hate speech or calls to terrorism. 

The bill, unveiled earlier this week, would prohibit content involving incitement of violence or discrimination on ethnic, social, religious, gender, sexual, national, genetic or other grounds or “physical characteristics”.

It would also apply to ads and other content containing calls to terrorism.

In the explanatory note for the legislative initiative, authors of the bill cited regulatory bodies in European Union member states being mandated to monitor and resolve such cases.