The House legal affairs committee continued its review on Wednesday of a bill aimed at enhancing protections against harassment and invasive surveillance, particularly via the internet and social media.

Proposed by Disy MP Fotini Tsiridou, the bill seeks to amend the 2021 law and introduce two new criminal offences.

Tsiridou emphasised that the intention is to bolster legal public safeguards without infringing on freedom of expression.

“It does not pertain to journalism or the freedom of opinion,” she clarified, noting that hate speech is not classified as a separate offence in the proposal.

Tsiridou asserted that safeguarding personal security, privacy and human dignity is a fundamental duty of the state, especially as technology facilitates the rapid spread of information and enables harassment campaigns.

She highlighted scenarios where individuals may face coordinated online targeting or have their private information exposed.

Such conduct, when intended to intimidate and meeting the legal threshold for an offence, could have consequences beyond an online dispute.

The first proposed offence concerns organised online targeting, where there is prior agreement or coordinated action, knowledge that the aim is harassment or intimidation, and a substantial contribution to conduct constituting an offence.

The second concerns the malicious publication of location or identification data, which Tsiridou said could threaten people’s safety.

She stressed that ordinary disagreement, strong public criticism or unpleasant comments would not be criminalised.

The proposed offences were narrowly defined and required more than disagreement or hate speech alone to be established, she said.

Tsiridou said the Legal Service, the justice ministry and Cyprus Bar Association had expressed support for the bill.

Article-by-article discussion is due to begin next Wednesday, after which the proposal will be submitted to the House plenary for a vote.