Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov signed a law on fines for insults and defamation on the internet. The document was published in the Erkin-Too newspaper.
The law will come into force ten days after its publication. Initially, it proposed fines of 100,000 soms for individuals and 200,000 soms for legal entities for defamation and insults.
However, after lengthy discussions, the fine amounts were reduced to up to 20,000 soms for individuals and up to 65,000 soms for legal entities. In this matter, the determination of what constitutes defamation or insult on the internet will be made by law enforcement agencies instead of the Ministry of Culture.
The law on fines for insults and defamation in the media and on the internet was developed at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture. According to the authors of the document, there has been a noticeable increase in cases of insults and discrimination spread through mass media and internet resources.
