Broadcasts Calling for War, Inciting Hate Speech to be Banned in Armenia

Armenia’s National Assembly today adopted, in full, the second reading of a government sponsored bill of amendments to the Law On Audiovisual Media that prohibits the dissemination of information that calls for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order or war and encourages or justifies such actions.

The bill, if signed into law, will also ban the dissemination of information that incites national, racial, sexual, or religious hatred, as well as instigating, encouraging or justifying discrimination based on age, disability or other personal or social characteristics.

The current law prohibits misuse of content in audiovisual programs, but the government had found the definition of prohibited content unclear. This lack of clarity, it argued, hinders lawful conduct by media providers and complicates regulatory oversight.

The bill also prohibits the dissemination of pornography in audiovisual programs.

Opposition MPs criticize the bill, arguing that the regulations allow for content censoring and state-level interference. They are concerned about the regulation of the distribution of content in foreign audiovisual programs that interferes with the domestic political life of Armenia, which can be interpreted differently.

The ruling party did not consider these opposition concerns to be appropriate.

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