Editing Defamation (section)

====Western Europe and North America====
Legal developments varied across the region. While criminal defamation and insult laws were repealed in some countries, stronger defamation laws were produced or reintroduced in other countries.<ref name="UNESCO Western Europe and North America Report 2018"/>

In [[common law]] countries, criminal defamation laws mostly fell into disuse. In contrast, most [[civil law (legal system)|civil law]] countries in Western Europe retained criminal defamation laws. In several Western European countries, defamation was sanctioned more harshly if it involved a public official. In some instances, heads of state were provided more protection to their reputation and punishments were more severe. Some governments strengthened criminal defamation laws to counter online hate speech or [[cyberbullying]].<ref name="UNESCO Western Europe and North America Report 2018"/>

The [[European Court of Human Rights]] had limited influence in [[legal reform]]s according to the court's standards, where ([[suspended sentence|suspended]]) prison sentences for defamation were considered a violation of Article 10 of the [[European Convention on Human Rights]]. Other [[high court]]s had a mixed record when evaluating criminal defamation and freedom of expression.<ref name="UNESCO Western Europe and North America Report 2018"/>

According to the 2017 OSCE report,<ref name="OSCE Report 2017"/> criminal defamation laws were in place in at least 21 of the 27 countries in Western Europe and North America. At least 13 states retained statutes penalizing blasphemy or religious insult.<ref name="UNESCO Western Europe and North America Report 2018"/>