Ekdotikos Oikos Dias Dimosia Ltd – Court Ruling (Cyprus, 2026)

On 13 March 2019, Sigma, a Cypriot TV channel belonging to Ekdotikos Oikos Dias Dimosia Ltd, a Cypriot media group (the controller), published a report disclosing financial information concerning a public figure in Cyprus (the data subject). The publication was part of reporting on whether there had been favourable treatment of a politically exposed person. On 15 April 2019, the data subject lodged a complaint with the Cypriot DPA concerning the disclosure of their financial personal data by media outlets belonging to the controller’s group. The DPA found that the controller had failed to properly balance the journalistic interest in publication against the data subject’s rights to privacy and data protection. In particular, the DPA considered that the controller had failed to demonstrate that it had taken into account certain balancing criteria, including whether the processing was carried out exclusively for journalistic purposes, whether it was strictly necessary to ensure the right to information on matters of public interest, whether the information was accurate and truthful, and whether there had been prior contact with the data subject. The DPA held that, by publishing information concerning the data subject’s financial situation, the controller had infringed the principles of lawfulness, fairness and transparency, data minimisation and accuracy. Therefore, it found that the controller infringed Article 5(1)(a) GDPR, Article 5(1)(c) GDPR and Article 5(1)(d) GDPR. Accordingly, the DPA fined the controller €10,000 and ordered it to remove the publication from the websites of all entities controlled by it within one week. The controller challenged the decision before the Administrative Court of Cyprus. It argued, among other things, that the DPA had violated its right to freedom of expression and its exercise of journalistic freedom under Article 85 GDPR. The court found that the DPA had not violated the controller’s freedom of expression or journalistic freed