“On March 4, the National Council presented recommendations for the media, developed jointly with experts from the Council of Europe, on how to prevent hate speech and discrimination in the information space. They are intended to help media professionals comply with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On the Media”.
The development of the recommendations was supported by the Council of Europe project “Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media in Ukraine – Phase II”, implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for the resilience, recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine for 2023-2026.
The regulator’s recommendations are based on the conclusions drawn from the work of expert groups involving more than 80 civil society organizations. The work on criteria for identifying information that incites hatred, hostility, and cruelty against individuals or groups on various grounds was carried out under the regulator’s leadership in 2023-2025. The initiative was launched to facilitate media professionals’ compliance with the requirements of paragraph 2 of part one of Article 36 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Media”.
Paragraph 2 of Part One of Article 36 of the Law “On the Media” sets out the following restrictions on the content of information: in the territory of Ukraine, it is prohibited in the media and on video‑sharing platforms to disseminate statements that incite hatred, hostility, or cruelty against individuals or groups of individuals on the basis of ethnic or social origin, citizenship, nationality, race, religion and beliefs, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
Responsible Secretary and member of the National Council Olena Nitsko noted that in recent years the National Council has carried out a series of educational activities during the implementation of the project “Competent Media – Tolerant and Democratic Society”. These activities were based on materials prepared as a result of meetings with the public.
The standards currently being developed by the National Council are important not only in terms of Ukraine’s European integration aspirations, but they are especially valuable during wartime. The aggressor is actively injecting hate speech narratives into Ukrainian society in order to sow discord among national communities and other groups, and to create a global perception of Ukraine as a backward, sexist, and racist state.
“Military events intensify the need to uphold human rights,” emphasized the Chair of the National Council, Olha Herasymiuk.
“We would like these recommendations to help diversify our media environment. So that every group we talk about is visible not only in separate sections, but that all these people represent the media – as hosts, journalists, experts, and specialists. And so that all of this becomes the norm.“
“The developed recommendations and clear criteria help to better identify hate speech and at the same time train and prepare those who produce various materials – so that they themselves do not violate the rights of different groups and do not spread certain hostility,” commented Zemfira Kondur, Manager of the CoE project “Support for Implementing European Standards Rerating to Anti-Discrimination and Rights of National Minorities in Ukraine”.
Neither Ukrainian legislation nor international law provides a single universal definition of “hate speech”. This leaves room not only for discussion but also for manipulation, often disguised as the right to freedom of expression and belief. At the same time, this right cannot serve as a basis for degrading human dignity on the grounds of belonging to certain groups, emphasized National Council member Maksym Onopriienko.
“The recommendations are a foundation for ethical and professional journalism. We are convinced that they will help our Ukrainian society to be cohesive, united, and stronger,” he said.
Marina Tkachuk, Director of the Directorate for Monitoring, Analysis, Strategic and Regional Development, presented in detail the Recommendations for the media on preventing hate speech and discrimination.
The document:
- provides a clear understanding of the legal boundaries and jurisdiction of the phenomenon of “hate speech”;
- offers a glossary of terminology in this field;
- helps to determine whether hate speech is present in content;
- can serve as a monitoring tool;
- presents a vision of measures to respond to manifestations of hate speech.
In addition, it contains examples of the assessment of hate speech in cases of the European Court of Human Rights: it outlines aspects to be taken into account when analysng this phenomenon in the media, in particular regarding the content of statements, the political and social context, the author’s intent, the form of dissemination, and so on.
The recommendations will be useful for the further work of co‑regulatory bodies, as well as for other state institutions and civil society organizations engaged in identifying and countering hate speech. They are applicable to audiovisual, online, and print media, as well as to video‑sharing platforms, serving as a tool for self‑monitoring.
Recommendations for the media on preventing hate speech and discrimination (document)
Presentation:
The recording of the event where the Recommendations were introduced is available at the link
