Estonian Legislators Approve Law on Media Damages

Estonia’s parliament adopted a law that would allow the authorities to seek damages from media outlets to prevent them from publishing compromising material.

Lawmakers voted 51-12 yesterday, with one abstention, to back measures allowing courts to seek compensation from the media in case a published article is deemed libellous or to have infringed privacy “by considering the need to prevent the person who caused damage from causing further damage, while accounting for the wealth of this person,” according to the parliament website.