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On March 30, the working sitting of the NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs entitled “The Settlement of Hate Speech in the RA Legislation,” moderated by Ani Samsonyan was held.

Persons who are engaged in the settlement and management of the internet domain, experts and representatives of public organizations took part in the debate.

By the order of the Committee, the experts Ara Ghazaryan and Davit Asatryan made studies on the settlement against the fight of hate speech on the internet domain. The report was made in the framework of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia.

The Deputy Chair of the Committee Ani Samsonyan has noted that it is the third debate on the theme. Last time the experts’ report-proposals were presented and the opportunities for self-regulations of the virtual domain were discussed.

The experts propose the operators of telecommunication and social networks to reserve provision in their contract on hate speech, which will oblige the users to follow their behaviour. It will also develop media literacy.

For the representative of the Ministry of High-Tech Industry the proposal is acceptable. He also thinks that media literacy can be taught by the subject of informatics.

According to the experts of the field, the mentioned proposal will create problems for operators, because they are not responsible for the content: they only ensure the uninterrupted connection.

The experts underlined that the provision on the network etiquette exists in the current contracts, which can be reformulated. The specialists of the sphere agreed with the reformulation of the current provision on the condition that operators are not responsible, and they will not implement monitoring in future. The provision will be reserved in the contract only as an information.