Azernews.Az

Initiating in the Azerbaijani legislation a criminal liability for slander, disseminated in online information resources, is not limitation of the freedom of thought, Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Political Analysis and Information Provision Department head Elnur Aslanov told media on May 17.

"The individual who does not criticize but insults cannot remain unpunished, otherwise this will lead to anarchy," he said.

Aslanov noted that the matter is not about control, but regulation, which is observed in many countries.

"Nowadays, information technologies are so developed that it is difficult to speak about a special control over online and ICT in general," he said.

"In any case, dissemination of news of racist and nationalist nature, as well as information harmful to the spiritual and moral upbringing of younger generation is limited in all civilized and developed countries," Aslanov added.

He noted that the U.S. has been discussing the law on moral norms in communication networks since 1966.

"There are certain laws concerning these issues in the EU countries," he said. "The Internet is a rapidly developing area. The information and communication technologies are a sphere, changing day by day.

From this point of view, no country wants to leave this area without regulation in a certain sense," he said.