A convicted sex offender in Norway, who used Snapchat to connect with underage boys, is asking the Norwegian Supreme Court to declare social media access a human right.
The offender was sentenced to 13 months in prison and banned from using Snapchat for two years.
His lawyers argue that the ban violates the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression and social connections.
While the court must decide the case through laws that predate social media, it raises important questions about the extent to which the state can restrict access to social media platforms, which are significant tools for exercising the right to freedom of expression.
Although the offender failed to appeal the ban in November 2023, the possibility of appealing to the European Court of Human Rights remains if the Supreme Court upholds the decision.
Norway ratified the European Convention in 1952, agreeing to abide by 18 articles guaranteeing citizens’ rights including life, liberty and freedom of expression.
Snapchat allows users to send and receive messages that disappear once read and permits anonymous account creation. While Snap prohibits child sexual exploitation on the app, it allows accounts to be created anonymously.
Snap disabled 343,865 accounts connected with child sexual exploitation in the second half of 2023 and sanctioned 879 accounts in Norway, though it is not clear how many of these were permanently disabled.
The Norwegian court will issue its ruling in the coming weeks.
