His appeal stems from personal experiences, as he has been the target of a smear campaign that resulted in significant social and professional consequences. “In today’s reality, labeling a private person or entrepreneur with a Russian tag even without any evidence – means business death and the disgrace of personal reputation. It’s worse than a crime” emphasizes Robert Szustkowski.
Despite numerous legal battles and Polish court rulings in 2020 that cleared him of all suspicions and accusations of “ties with Russia and foreign state services,” as well as public apologies in major Polish newspapers, he continues to suffer from harassment. Therefore, he now calls for the implementation of new personal image protection standards in EU countries, stressing that accusing individuals without credible evidence violates their rights and harms their reputation.
The new social initiative announced by Robert Szustkowski in Switzerland involves proposing an extension of the European legal directive known as the “Right to be Forgotten” to media, allowing individuals to request the removal of outdated or false information about themselves from internet search engines.
Szustkowski suggests establishing a Readers’ Ombudsman mechanism (similar to the British institution of the Reader’s Editor, which operates in many editorial offices) in the media.
This would allow accused individuals to present their version of events and request corrections or editorial notes to the articles. His initiative aims to introduce standards of transparency and accountability in media communications and support fairer social principles.
In light of current challenges related to misinformation and external threats, the EU must prioritize the protection of individual rights. The pursuit of new personal image protection standards can contribute to a more balanced and just society within the European Union, claims Szustkowski.
The initiator highlighted that media, by making baseless accusations about the past of many businessmen, divert readers’ attention from the real problems, such as justified concerns in the European Union about misinformation and the actions of groups linked to foreign governments, introducing false information into the public information space.
