Power Without Territory
Media represents the only force that shapes public opinion faster than the law can respond. A newspaper, a television broadcast, an internet portal, a social media profile—each channel operates by its own logic, yet all obey a common principle: whoever controls the narrative controls reality.
The difficulty is that media regulations do not form a coherent code. They are scattered across dozens of legal instruments—from the Press Law of 1984, through legislation on electronic services, to regulations governing unfair competition and personal data protection. The average entrepreneur navigates this labyrinth by touch alone.
“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one,” A.J. Liebling observed seventy years ago. Today that sentence has acquired new dimensions: freedom of expression on the internet depends on platform algorithms whose proprietors answer to no democratic authority.
What We Do
Press Law
We evaluate press materials for legal compliance. We conduct correspondence with editorial offices. We prepare corrections and responses. We represent clients in disputes with journalists, editors-in-chief, and publishers.
Internet Law
We protect image and personal rights online. We intervene with service operators. We pursue claims in courts concerning publications that violate honor, reputation, or privacy. We represent clients in domain name disputes.
Advertising Law
We assess advertising campaigns for regulatory compliance. We advise on products subject to special restrictions—pharmaceuticals, alcohol, tobacco. We conduct litigation involving misleading advertising or violations of competitors’ rights.
The New Landscape
“One of the most important places to exchange views is cyberspace, particularly social media.” — U.S. Supreme Court, Packingham v. North Carolina (2017)
The internet has ceased to be a technological curiosity. It has become a public space where political debate unfolds, reputations are built, and careers destroyed. The European Court of Human Rights confirmed in Handyside that freedom of expression extends to content that “offends, shocks, or disturbs.” But this freedom has limits—and increasingly, those limits are drawn not only by courts but by platform terms of service.
For business owners, this creates dual exposure. On one side, the possibility that someone will attack their reputation online with impunity. On the other, the danger that their own marketing communications will cross a line and expose the company to liability.
“If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product”—this saying has become an axiom of the digital economy. Every post, every like, every comment generates data that someone monetizes. Data protection law and media law intertwine here into a single knot.
Why This Is Difficult
“Debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open.” — U.S. Supreme Court, New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
Media law demands constant balancing between values in tension: freedom of speech and protection of reputation, the right to information and the right to privacy, the public interest and individual dignity.
Warren and Brandeis wrote as early as 1890 that “the press is overstepping in every direction the obvious bounds of propriety and of decency.” Since then the medium has changed, but the problem persists. Only the reach has shifted—today a single click can destroy a reputation built over decades.
“Our republic and its press will rise or fall together,” Joseph Pulitzer warned. In the age of social media, this interdependence is stronger than ever.
Skarbiec Law Firm combines knowledge of regulations with an understanding of contemporary communication mechanics. Because in a world where the medium is the message, the law must keep pace with technology.
