Not so different after all? Reconciling Delfi vs. Estonia with EU rules on intermediary liability

On 16 June 2015, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its final judgment in Delfi AS v. Estonia. By fifteen votes to two, the Grand Chamber ruled that there was no violation of Article 10 of the Convention of Human Rights (‘the Convention’ hereafter) despite the imposition of publisher liability for user generated content. Would the case have been decided differently if it had been referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for assessment under the E-Commerce Directive? Aleksandra Kuczerawy and Pieter-Jan Ombelet of the KU Leuven Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and ICT (ICRI-CIR) analyse whether the Delfi ruling can be reconciled with existing CJEU case law regarding liability of internet intermediaries.