Judgment concerning Georgia
In the case of Miladze v. Georgia the Court held that there had been no violation of the freedom of expression.
The case concerned the applicant’s administrative conviction for a video he had posted on TikTok criticising the new transport policies in Tbilisi and alleging misconduct by public officials. The video had gone viral.
The Court found that the Georgian courts had carried out a thorough and calibrated balancing exercise in the case, distinguishing robust political criticism from hostile personal denigration which was not protected under the Convention. It took into account in particular the aggressive and vulgar language used and the potential impact, especially for young people, of sexually explicit personal insults on a widely used social-media platform.