In a recent ruling by the district court of Stockholm, the publisher of the Swedish daily Aftonbladet was found guilty of hate speech and sentenced to a conditional sentence and fines. An anonymous user in a moderated forum on the Aftonbladet web site uttered the hate speech.
It has been debated whether the speech was removed from the forum quickly enough or not, but that is an issue not dealt with in this case. According
to the court the crime was committed immediately upon publication.
The legal situation in Sweden regarding freedom of speech on the Internet is ambiguous. According to the laws regulating freedom of speech, the publisher has a strict accountability for everything published in his
paper. Only during extreme circumstances should the publisher escape accountability. When it comes to the Internet, the publisher of a web forum can be held accountable if he is a registered publisher and works
for a media company.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/28/bloody_hard_to_run/