Defamation and Online Harassment Laws in Italy

Italy is a civil law country. Article 595 of the Penal Code defines defamation as harming another person's reputation while communicating with more than one person. On the civil side, Article 2043 of the Civil Code requires anyone who causes unjust harm through an intentional or negligent act to pay compensation, and Article 185 of the Penal Code adds that any crime causing financial or non-financial harm must be compensated.

Sources1Codice Penale, art. 595 (Diffamazione)2Codice Civile, art. 2043 (Risarcimento per fatto illecito)3Codice Penale, art. 185 (Restituzioni e risarcimento del danno)

Defamation is a crime under Article 595 of the Penal Code, with higher penalties when a specific fact is attributed and when the statement is made through the press or any other means of publicity, which carries six months to three years in prison or a fine. In ruling no. 150 of 2021 the Constitutional Court struck down Article 13 of the Press Law, which required prison for press defamation involving a specific fact, and held that under Article 595 judges should choose prison only in cases of exceptional gravity, such as knowingly false disinformation campaigns, and a fine in all other cases. The crime can be prosecuted only on the victim's formal complaint (querela), and since 2016 insulting a person directly (ingiuria) is no longer a crime but a civil offense with a civil fine of 100 to 8,000 euros.

Sources1Codice Penale, art. 595 (Diffamazione)4Corte costituzionale, sentenza n. 150/2021 (Gazzetta Ufficiale, 1st special series, no. 28 of 14 July 2021)5Legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47 (Press Law), art. 136Codice Penale, art. 597 (Querela della persona offesa)7Decreto legislativo 15 gennaio 2016, n. 7, art. 48Codice Penale, art. 594 (repealed by D.Lgs. 15 gennaio 2016, n. 7)

Italian law does not separate libel from slander. Under Article 2947 of the Civil Code, a civil claim for damages from an unlawful act generally must be brought within five years of the event, but if the act is also a crime with a longer limitation period, that longer period applies to the civil claim too; for a serious crime (delitto) such as defamation, Article 157 of the Penal Code sets that period at no less than six years. A criminal complaint (querela) generally must be filed within three months of the day the victim learned of the facts, under Article 124 of the Penal Code.

Sources9Codice Civile, art. 2947 (Prescrizione del diritto al risarcimento del danno)10Codice Penale, art. 124 (Termine per proporre la querela)11Codice Penale, art. 157 (Prescrizione)

Italian law does not use the common law category of defamation per se. Article 2059 of the Civil Code allows compensation for non-financial harm only where the law provides for it, and Article 185 of the Penal Code provides for it when the harm comes from a crime, so a court can award compensation for harm to reputation and dignity as well as financial losses.

Sources3Codice Penale, art. 185 (Restituzioni e risarcimento del danno)12Codice Civile, art. 2059 (Danni non patrimoniali)

Italy has no dedicated anti-SLAPP law. Under Article 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, a court can order a losing party who sued or defended in bad faith or with gross negligence to pay damages to the other side, and in those cases it must also order a payment of 500 to 5,000 euros to the state fund for fines (cassa delle ammende).

Source13Codice di procedura civile, art. 96 (Responsabilità aggravata)

Article 8 of the Press Law requires the editor of a newspaper, periodical or news agency to publish free of charge the statement or correction of a person whose image was published or to whom acts, thoughts or statements were attributed that the person considers harmful to their dignity or untrue, as long as the correction itself is not criminal. Daily newspapers must publish it within two days of the request, at the top of the same page as the original story. If the outlet fails to do so, the person can ask a court to order publication, and failing to comply is punished with a fine.

Source14Legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47 (Press Law), art. 8 (Risposte e rettifiche)

As a rule, a person accused of criminal defamation may not offer proof of truth as a defense, but Article 596 of the Penal Code allows it when a specific fact is attributed in listed cases, such as when the victim is a public official and the fact concerns their duties; if the truth is proven, the speaker is not punished unless the way it was said is itself defamatory. Article 51 excludes punishment for the lawful exercise of a right, and the Constitutional Court in ruling no. 150 of 2021 treated the rights to report and to criticize (diritto di cronaca e di critica) as protected when exercised within their limits. Under Article 599, a person who makes a defamatory statement in a fit of anger caused by another person's unjust act, and right after it, is not punishable.

Sources15Codice Penale, art. 596 (Esclusione della prova liberatoria)16Codice Penale, art. 51 (Esercizio di un diritto o adempimento di un dovere)4Corte costituzionale, sentenza n. 150/2021 (Gazzetta Ufficiale, 1st special series, no. 28 of 14 July 2021)17Codice Penale, art. 599 (Provocazione)

Article 612-bis of the Penal Code (atti persecutori) punishes repeated threats or harassment that cause lasting and serious anxiety or fear, a well-founded fear for one's safety or that of a loved one, or force the victim to change their habits, with one year to six years and six months in prison. The penalty is increased when the conduct is carried out through computer or online tools, and the victim generally has six months to file a complaint.

Source18Codice Penale, art. 612-bis (Atti persecutori)

Article 660 of the Penal Code punishes, on the victim's complaint, anyone who harasses or disturbs another person in a public place or by telephone out of insolence or another blameworthy motive. For minors, Law no. 71 of 2017 on cyberbullying lets a victim aged 14 or older, or a parent, ask a website or social media operator to hide, remove or block the minor's personal data; if the operator does not act within 48 hours, the request can go to the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante), which must act within 48 hours.

Sources19Codice Penale, art. 660 (Molestia o disturbo alle persone)20Legge 29 maggio 2017, n. 71, art. 2 (see also art. 1)

Publishing someone's personal data online without a lawful basis can breach data protection law, and the person affected can file a complaint with the Garante under Article 141 of the Personal Data Protection Code. Under Article 167 of that Code, processing sensitive data or criminal-record data in breach of the Code's rules, in order to make a profit or to harm the person, is a crime carrying one to three years in prison when it causes harm.

Sources21Decreto legislativo 30 giugno 2003, n. 196 (Personal Data Protection Code), art. 167 (Trattamento illecito di dati)22Decreto legislativo 30 giugno 2003, n. 196 (Personal Data Protection Code), art. 141 (Reclamo al Garante)

Article 612-ter of the Penal Code punishes anyone who, after making or taking them, sends, publishes or spreads sexually explicit images or videos meant to stay private without the consent of the people shown, with one to six years in prison and a fine of 5,000 to 15,000 euros; people who receive such material and pass it on to cause harm face the same penalty. Since October 2025, Article 612-quater also punishes spreading AI-generated or AI-altered images, videos or voices that can deceive and cause unjust harm, with one to five years in prison. Under Article 144-bis of the Personal Data Protection Code, anyone aged 14 or older who has good reason to fear that such private material may be shared on digital platforms can alert the Garante, which must decide within 48 hours.

Sources23Codice Penale, art. 612-ter (Diffusione illecita di immagini o video sessualmente espliciti)24Codice Penale, art. 612-quater (Illecita diffusione di contenuti generati o alterati con sistemi di intelligenza artificiale)25Decreto legislativo 30 giugno 2003, n. 196 (Personal Data Protection Code), art. 144-bis (Revenge porn)