united-states european-union first-amendment
First amendment law and Facebook posts, posted by non-Americans
<p>Since I have researched the topic quite a bit, but failed to find satisfying answer that I was looking for, I will ask it here. I think my question opens at least, very interesting debate.
In 2014 there was a case, where a man in Slovenia(EU) posted a message regarding some local handball match to his group Facebook wall, which stated "The police intervened only at the end of the match... Typical for these clowns". The man was charged with insulting law enforcement and fined 105 Euros (by law enforcement). The original source is here (translated using google translate): <a href="https://goo.gl/Y9kELs" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/Y9kELs</a></p>

<p><strong>My question:</strong>
If some statement that is posted on Facebook by non-American citizen, and the statement is subject to, for instance hate-speech laws in country of the person that posted it, isn't the person protected by the first amendment given the fact - that let's assume the post that was made is hosted on American server, which protects free speech under first amendment law. So if we expand this, he made a statement technically speaking in USA.</p>

<p>If you are charged under the laws of Estonia (or Australia or Thailand or the UK) then the laws of the USA have <strong>no relevance whatsoever</strong>. </p>

<p>It makes no difference if you are a US citizen, if the alleged crime happened in the USA or was perpetrated against the USA. If nation X has jurisdiction then you are tried under the laws of nation X. That is what sovereignty means.</p>

<p>As to your specific example, Facebook does business in Estonia, therefore they are subject to Estonian law, as a US corporation they are also subject to US law and the law of every other jurisdiction they operate in (see why they need big legal departments?). If a legitimate Estonian warrant was served on them to disclose metadata or anything else then they are legally obliged to do so or be in contempt of court.</p>

<p>Oh, and by the way, the first amendment right to free speech does not give you a right to <em>anonymous</em> free speech. </p>
