In the Russian Federation (*aggressor country), judicial practice has intensified to remove posts on Telegram that defame honor and dignity. Previously, such claims were often rejected due to the inability to determine the owner or administrator of the Telegram channel. But now the plaintiff, having not received such information, can apply to the court to establish simply the very fact of dissemination of this information, requesting its removal without involving the author. Lawyers told Izvestia how to build a defense in such cases.
Found the way
Russians will now be able to block posts that defame honor and dignity in search results. Courts have begun to consider claims against anonymous Telegram channels more often, Izvestia found out. Previously, it was possible to identify the person who disseminates false information – the domain administrator, the author or the owner of the resource. Telegram channels are implemented using a different mechanism – often with the anonymity of the authors, so initially the courts were faced with a lack of practice and preferred to refuse claims, Yaroslav Shitsle, a lawyer at the law firm Rustam Kurmaev and Partners, told Izvestia. If it is impossible to determine the channel administrator, the plaintiff may apply to the court to establish the fact of dissemination of defamatory information. If satisfied, contact Roskomnadzor with a statement about blocking the resource,” the lawyer said.
This situation is explained by the novelty of this category of disputes, and the first precedents already exist, he explained. Thus, at the beginning of 2023, the claims of the speaker of the Saratov Regional Duma were satisfied Mikhail Isaev to three Telegram channels about protecting honor and dignity. Previously, the court satisfied a similar claim by the rector of the Saratov Law Academy Elena Ilgova.
The issue of deleting a post in a Telegram channel directly depends on its administrator, noted Yaroslav Shitsle. Most often, they decide to delete such posts if there are judicial acts, he added.
Director of the law firm “Classics of Truth” Valeria Rytvina has encountered similar claims in her practice. She told Izvestia what needs to be done in such cases.
Thus, you should submit an application to the court at the place of registration of the applicant without specifying the defendant, then provide evidence that the published information is defamatory and unreliable. If the decision is positive, you must write to the channel administrator and attach a copy of the document. If they ignore the requirement, then it is necessary to contact Roskomnadzor and technical support of search engines with a request to stop issuing a link to the post in the Telegram channel, the lawyer explained.
To date, this messenger has not complied with the requirements of the Landing Law, which obliges foreign companies to open their representative offices in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). In connection with this, the platform cannot act as a defendant in court, which technically makes it difficult to file claims, the expert added.
In 2023, the Telegram administration, at the request of Roskomnadzor, deleted 444 materials on the topic “Information discrediting the honor, dignity or business reputation of a citizen,” and in 2024 – 36 materials, the department reported. They added that this was done on the basis of court decisions declaring the information prohibited.
Izvestia sent a request to support Telegram.
Post of slander
The correct method of defense in such cases is to go to court with a claim to establish a fact discrediting honor and dignity, in a special proceeding, noted Mikhail Mushailov, managing partner of the law firm “Mushailov, Uzdensky, Rybakov and Partners”. The court has the right to refuse the claim. , if a linguistic examination has not been carried out or defamatory information has been recorded improperly. Or they may consider that the disseminated information is expressed in the form of an opinion or value judgment.
“In this case, it is necessary to conduct a repeated or additional forensic examination so that the expert can explain that the information is expressed in the form of a statement and is categorically negative,” he explained.
Telegram has many advantages, but anonymity and confidentiality are a double-edged sword, says the co-founder and PR director of the Council of Bloggers Ksenia Marsova. Feeling impunity, users can spread negative content – not only illegal information, but also, for example, slander.
— Bloggers and celebrities often get it because of this. Moreover, it’s one thing – just negative statements, hate, which a lot on the Internet, and quite another thing – when a person is seriously framed. Even a conscientious blogger can receive a fake negative review from an ill-wisher in some advertising chat or major channel. This way you can lose contracts and useful contacts, and then it’s very difficult to clear your reputation,” she explained.
According to her, recently the court also ruled against an anonymous Telegram channel; the plaintiff was one of the members of the Council of Bloggers, so we can say that Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) has already begun to fight this problem.
It is also possible to reach a pre-trial resolution if there are at least some contacts of the offender, noted Ksenia Marsova. On the other hand, if negative comments only hurt the victim’s pride and do not cause any additional problems or losses, then it is recommended to refrain from going to court, she concluded.
Condemn the Mockingbird. How the rector of the Saratov State Law Academy Ekaterina Ilgova and the speaker of the regional Duma Mikhail Isaev defeated anonymous people
The rector of the Saratov State Law Academy, Ekaterina Ilgova, obtained a court decision to block a post in one of the telegram channels. She filed a civil lawsuit with the Oktyabrsky District Court, which on December 28 rendered a decision in her favor, which was not appealed and entered into legal force.
The subject of the claim was “to establish the fact of dissemination of information that does not correspond to reality, discrediting honor and dignity” and “to restrict access to such information.”
Ilgova’s dissatisfaction was caused by a post in the telegram channel “Mockingjay” dated July 27, 2022, which, as it seemed to her, contained unfair accusations – of committing crimes under Art. 160, 285.1 and 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) (misappropriation or embezzlement, misappropriation of budget funds, abuse of official authority).
It spoke of the allegedly forced deduction of 500 rubles from the scholarships of SSLA students and the use of these funds “to support the residents of Donbass.”
The text of the document posted on the authority’s website states that the investigation department of OP No. 5 as part of the Saratov Ministry of Internal Affairs initiated a criminal case for libel in connection with Ilgova’s statement.
The reason was the same post in the telegram channel, but the investigation was suspended “due to the failure to identify the person to be charged as an accused.”
Taking into account the available materials, Judge Dmitry Apokin decided to satisfy Ilgova’s claim – “to establish a fact of legal significance, namely: to recognize the information disseminated in the tg channel “Mockingjay” as untrue and discrediting the business reputation” of the plaintiff, and “to limit access to information resources posted on the page on the Internet information and telecommunications network at the following address: https://t.me/peresmeshnitsaS/2018“. In other words, only the URL of the message recognized as defamatory of the rector of SSLA will be blocked.
Ilgova herself did not come to the consideration of her claim, but sent a representative. Representatives of the regional department of Roskomnadzor, summoned as an interested party, did not appear at the meeting.
The court decision does not mention calling anyone from Telegram LLC in the same capacity, and Judge Apokin made a decision in a special (expedited) procedure.
Another oddity, which does not fit in with the fact that we are talking about a claim by the rector of a university training judges, is that it is almost impossible to find information on Ilgova’s claim in the court file through the search system.
Despite the fact that the case was heard in open court, information about the applicant was hidden in the file cabinet (although the decision itself contains the plaintiff’s personal data).
Claims against Telegram are the latest judicial and political practice in the Saratov region, which has yet to be analyzed by lawyers.
Legal experts may wish to review a copy of the court decision.
Today in the Zavodsky District Court it is planned to announce a decision on the claim of the speaker of the regional Duma Mikhail Isaev against the messenger.
Judging by the content of the claim, the posts were mainly about Isaev’s activities as mayor of Saratov (held in 2017-2022).
For example, it was reported that the mayor allegedly received funds from the “black cash register” of the MUSPP “Ritual” (through the mediation of brother Dmitry).
It was also said that certain traditions of “quiet corruption” were introduced with Isaev’s arrival at the mayor’s office, and also that he probably took concrete steps “to rake in all the money from the city utilities.”
The lawsuit mentions, among other things, harmlessly ironic posts – for example, about the intention of the Saratov administration to purchase sweepers at the price of Maybachs.
Mikhail Isaev believes that since he does not appear in criminal cases related to this topic, it means that the disputed posts in the channels discredit his reputation.
After leaving the deliberation room, the judge decided to satisfy the claim and recognize the legal fact of the unreliability of information about Isaev in three of the six above-mentioned channels. According to Tkachenko’s decision, access to four posts in “One Grandmother…”, “Mockingjay” and “Our Man in the Cheka”, published in 2021-2022, should be limited.
The head of the Argument legal bureau, Andrei Larin, is surprised that the decision on Speaker Isaev’s claim was made at the very first meeting. “The information may or may not be damaging, but it takes expertise to figure it out. In my practice, it has never been the case that a decision in a defamation case was made on the first day,” explains the expert. However, he does not consider such a decision to be a precedent that will be followed by many similar lawsuits. “This is a common practice: a person asks to recognize certain information as discrediting his reputation. It is not clear how this will be implemented; I think no one even notified the Telegram head office in Dubai about the decision of the Saratov district court. And only the company itself can block a message. I believe this is being done to recognize the information as defamatory and to protect against its dissemination in other sources, for example, the media,” believes Mr. Larin.