On 3rd December 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR/Court) delivered its decision in the case of Yevstifeyev and Others v. Russia [App. No. 226 of 2018]. In Yevstifeyev, the ECtHR addressed two distinct applications, wherein the first application involved homophobic verbal assaults and threats against LGBTI activists, which the Court deemed a violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR/Convention). In contrast, the second application concerned a satirical video portraying a ‘Gay Hunt,’ which the Court found did not meet the ‘threshold of severity’ to constitute a violation. In this contribution, I argue that the while ECtHR approach in the first application is progressive in terms of evolving the State’s positive obligations under the Convention, the second application reasoning raises significant questions about the Court’s approach to hate speech, particularly regarding the distinction between context and content, intent and effect, and the application of the ‘threshold of severity’ test.
