Yurchyshyn on social media regulation: Awaiting Council of Europe’s expert review of draft law

This was announced by MP, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech Yaroslav Yurchyshyn in a commentary to Ukrinform.

“Now, as before, we are working as much as possible in the European track on the regulation of social networks, in particular Telegram. As far as I know, our colleague, the chairman of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, Mykyta Poturaiev, sent a draft law on the regulation of social networks to the Council of Europe to get an expert opinion. The results of this examination should be available any day now, and we could move forward accordingly,” Yurchyshyn said.

He explained that if Ukraine introduces social media regulation at the legislative level (additional restriction mechanisms or fines, etc.), “social networks can completely ignore Ukrainian decisions, because we are not such a large and significant market for them.”

“That is why it is best for us to synchronize with the European community on this issue. We are currently having a difficult conversation to ensure that the Digital Service Act, which is in place in European communities and which now needs to be improved, is extended to EU candidate countries. We and Molodova are critically interested in this,” said the head of the parliamentary committee.

He clarified that Ukraine theoretically has a sanctions mechanism for social media, “but we cannot expect political leadership to apply the sanctions mechanism at the state level, given that more than 70% of the audience, including the state leadership, use Telegram, so we are trying to synchronize with Europe as much as possible.”

“However, there are also critical situations that are another argument for imposing sanctions on Telegram. Telegram is used to recruit arsonists for military vehicles, people who organize terrorist attacks near the Territorial center of acquisition or other places where the military is gathered. Of course, the Security Service, the Main Intelligence Directorate, and all our special services are constantly informing the National Security and Defense Council about the growing threat. That is why I do not rule out the possibility that the situation may escalate to the point where certain sanctions will be imposed,” Yurchyshyn emphasized.

He added that the Ukrainian side is currently actively communicating with European partners on the issue of social media regulation legislation so that after the European rules are adapted in Ukraine, they will be valid for both our country and Europe. “This will allow us to engage the European market to protect our interests,” the MP is convinced.

As Ukrinform previously reported, the Security Service of Ukraine urged citizens to report attempts to recruit by Russian special services in the chatbot “Find the FSB”.