The news website Stina (Ukrainianwall.com) published a news story celebrating the upcoming amendments to the law on access to public information initiated by the Digital Transformation Ministry. The article quoted fake positive comments by the Center for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM) and the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), IMI experts noticed.
The news story in question, titled “Access to public information about to change: Digital Transformation Ministry debunks myths — who will be affected?”, was released on 24 June. The article essentially welcomes the Ministry’s initiative, claiming that the draft bill “introduces no new restrictions,” but “brings Ukrainian legislation in line with European standards.” To support this position, the publication cited positive or cautiously positive comments by think tanks, namely CEDEM and IMI, which intended to create the impression that the expert community supports the draft bill.
“We gave no comments to this news outlet. We are still examining the draft bill, but we are already seeing several risks for access to public information in it. Such as a potential rollback of query submitters’ rights, longer deadlines for making information public, and the introduction of extra grounds for refusing to disclose data of public interest. For IMI, this topic is of fundamental importance. Lawyers at the Institute of Mass Information were involved in drafting the Law ‘On Access to Public Information’, and it matters to us that any amendments to it do not undermine it but, on the contrary, guarantee high-quality and quick access to information for citizens. European integration cannot be an excuse for regression in this area”, said IMI Director Oksana Romaniuk.
CEDEM said that they provided no comments to Stina, either. The organisation’s deputy director Ihor Rozkladay told IMI that CEDEM had no official position on the draft bill yet. “We have not yet issued an official statement on the draft bill. Moreover, it seems that this sentence was AI generated: there are no specifics or links,” said Rozkladay.
Stina claims to be a news portal. The website lists Oleh Kolomiyets as the chief editor, but no information about the media outlet’s owner is publicly available. According to the website, it is based in Kyiv.
IMI has reached out to Oleh Kolomiyets for comment, but he was not immediately available.
On 11 June, the Ministry of Digital Transformation announced the public discussion of the draft bill amending the Law “On Access to Public Information”, which will last until 26 June. The department said that the bill aimed to adapt Ukrainian legislation to EU norms on open data. At the same time, experts have warned that certain provisions may make public information less accessible.