Wikimedia Foundation to Paraguayan Supreme Court: Do not allow people to abuse the law to suppress legitimate information

The Wikimedia Foundation filed a friend-of-the-court or amicus brief in collaboration with the TEDIC and the CELE at the University of Palermo supporting Christian Chena in the Paraguayan Supreme Court case Gisele Zuni Mousques v. Christian Chena.

The case Gisele Zuni Mousques v. Christian Chena is currently before the Paraguayan Supreme Court. In this lawsuit, Mousques sued Chena for allegedly violating the Paraguayan Law On Comprehensive Protection of Women Against All Forms of Violence. Through an incorrect interpretation of the law, Mousques is attempting to suppress public interest information about herself, threatening freedom of expression and access to reliable and accurate information. In the continuous effort to promote gender equity and access to knowledge, the Wikimedia Foundation strongly believes that laws intended to protect certain groups or values should not be abused to suppress legitimate information. Furthermore, the freedom for volunteers to properly source articles is one of Wikipedia’s most significant assets, since there can be no new content on the Wikimedia projects without reliable and accurate sources. 

For this reason, the Foundation worked with TEDIC and the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE, in Spanish) to submit a friend-of-the-court or amicus brief supporting Christian Chena’s position. Participation in these types of cases is essential for an organization like the Foundation, as there is an increasing current of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) aiming to remove content from the internet that, while accurate, may displease those in positions of power. The Foundation’s efforts, then, seek to ensure our society remains a place where people can voice their opinions and beliefs freely without fear of persecution. This, in turn, helps to protect and promote the creation of reliable content that can be added to Wikipedia so that others can find it there, generating a virtuous circle that keeps people well-informed across the world.

About the lawsuit

The lawsuit concerns an article published by the news media outlet Última Hora, which claims that Gisele Mousques illegally retained members of the Paraguayan Armed Forces as domestic employees. Mousques’ complaint alleges that Chena, the businessman who owns the news media outlet in question, violated the law by publishing discriminatory language against Mousques based on her gender, violating her dignity. Subsequently, the Justice of the Peace of the city of Trinidad prohibited Chena from mentioning Mousques’ name on his own social media channels, as well as on any media outlet in which he is a stakeholder, for 365 days.

The Foundation is concerned that the overzealous application of this law could potentially prohibit negative statements against any woman regardless of the underlying journalistic intention, constituting a clear case of a SLAPP. We are concerned that the misapplication of this legislation threatens to render a chilling effect that may endanger freedom of expression in public and journalistic discourse. If this legislation continues to be applied too broadly, it may eventually become possible for any prominent public figure to censor criticism under the guise of fighting gender discrimination, and it might even endanger legitimate efforts to protect women and gender minorities from discrimination. This might directly affect the Wikimedia volunteer communities’ ability to properly source content on the projects, as less of it would potentially be available due to censorship. Consequently, volunteers could have to base their articles on less reliable content. We recognize that this is a complex position and emphasize that our agreement with the overall aims of the legislation is separate from our concerns over how this legislation is being implemented and enforced.

On our amicus brief

Our friend-of-the-court or amicus brief explains that the Justice of the Peace failed not only to consider the human rights implications of the ruling on freedom of expression and journalism, but also did not apply the appropriate test to determine whether a restriction of the affected party’s human rights was legitimate.  Instead, the Trinidad court argued that advertising the past activities and/or opinions of others does not constitute legitimate speech, and declined to apply the test in the process. We would have expected the court to recognize the special protection of freedom of expression in the context of public debate on matters of public interest, especially when it involves public officials and figures who voluntarily participate in the public debate.

The case is now on appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice in Paraguay. While the law serves an important goal, the legislation’s aims are separate from how the law is being used in practice regarding this lawsuit. We hope the Paraguayan Supreme Court reverses action in this case and recognizes the public interest in making such important information about high-profile individuals available. As we explain in our amicus brief, no law should be used as an excuse to censor speech, especially when freedom of expression in matters of public interest is at stake.

Learn more about the case and the law

If you would like to learn more about the case or the topic more generally, you can read the arguments presented in the amicus brief at the TEDIC website, and also take a look at the original text of the relevant law here. TEDIC has also published a comprehensive research report examining the legal theory and detailing the areas of potential abuse of the Paraguayan Law On Comprehensive Protection of Women Against All Forms of Violence, which might be of interest as well.

We would like to thank the Paraguayan NGO TEDIC and the CELE for drafting the brief. Thank you also to the Wikimedia Foundation’s staff Amalia Toledo, Lead Public Policy Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Noah Usman, former Legal Fellow.