In an important judicial ruling, the Supreme Administrative Court of the State Council established a new legal principle regarding public employees’ use of social media, confirming that merely owning an account or posting content does not constitute a disciplinary offense unless harm or defamation is proven with conclusive digital evidence.

This came in a ruling that canceled a decision to deduct 10 days’ salary from an employee at the Tax Authority, who was punished by the administrative body for allegedly insulting and defaming the authority’s leaders through Facebook posts.

The court clarified in its reasoning that the contested decision violated the principles of a fair and just trial, as the investigation files lacked any digital evidence proving the employee’s ownership of the accused account or connection to the complained posts, despite his insistence during the investigation on requesting technical tracking of the account to prove his non-involvement.

The court affirmed that Law No. 175 of 2018 on combating cybercrimes requires proof of harm and defamation with conclusive technical evidence, and that printed screenshots of posts attributed to a Facebook account alone are insufficient to prove the employee committed a disciplinary violation unless supported by digital evidence confirming ownership of the account.

The court stated in its ruling: The investigation body’s neglect of the appellant’s request to track the technical account and the absence of digital evidence proving his connection to the accused page severely flaws the investigation and invalidates the resulting penalty, which necessitates canceling the disciplinary decision and acquitting the employee of the accusations.