# Ecuador's Organic Communication Law creates a regulator that issues hundreds of sanctions against journalists and outlets

Published 2026-09-22. Last reviewed 2026-09-22. 3 sources.

Status: historical, as of 2026-09-22.

Ecuador's National Assembly passed the Organic Communication Law under President Rafael Correa, creating the Superintendency of Information and Communication (SUPERCOM), a regulator that issued more than 675 sanctions against journalists and media outlets over the following four years.[1][2][3][4]

- Country: [Ecuador](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/ec) (RSF 2026 rank: 125th of 180)
- Where: EC
- Level of government: National
- Tactics: Funding and ownership pressure, Insult and defamation laws
- Stage: Pressure (ladder: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/funding_and_ownership_pressure#stage-pressure)
- Head of government at the time: [Rafael Correa](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/rafael-correa)
- Issue of the day: President Correa's long-running public disputes with Ecuadorian media over their coverage of his government, including a separate 2011 libel case against the newspaper El Universo.
- Outcome: Reversed, February 20, 2019. President Lenin Moreno's government moved to eliminate SUPERCOM in 2018, and the reform of the Communication Law was published in the Official Register on February 20, 2019; Fundamedios director Cesar Ricaurte said the surrounding legal framework nonetheless remained "intact."
- Era: The 2010s

## What happened

On June 25, 2013, Ecuador's National Assembly, controlled by allies of President Rafael Correa, passed the Organic Communication Law, which created the Superintendency of Information and Communication (SUPERCOM), a regulator empowered to fine, reprimand or order public apologies from journalists and outlets found to have violated the law's content rules, provisions the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said were used against coverage unfavorable to the government. Within four years, SUPERCOM had opened 1,081 cases and issued 675 sanctions, by its own count, split by the monitoring group Fundamedios into 324 fines, 137 written reprimands and 54 forced public apologies. SUPERCOM itself said the law guaranteed rather than restricted press freedom because "in four years no media outlet has been closed." After Correa left office, President Lenin Moreno proposed eliminating SUPERCOM in 2018; his communications secretary said, "If we're in a constructive process, we should get rid of the Supercom."[1][2][3][4]

## What reason was given

SUPERCOM described its own record as evidence the law protected rather than restricted the press, saying "in four years no media outlet has been closed," while United Nations and Inter-American human-rights bodies said the law had been "used as an instrument to unduly interfere in the content of media outlets and punish them, especially when their coverage is unfavorable."[3]

## What changed for reporting

SUPERCOM opened 1,081 cases and issued 675 sanctions against journalists and outlets in four years, including fines, written reprimands and forced public apologies, a pattern Fundamedios and international monitors said pressured critical coverage.[1][2][3][4]

## Timeline

- 2013-06-25: Ecuador's Organic Communication Law creates a regulator that issues hundreds of sanctions against journalists and outlets

## Who acted

| Name | Role in this incident | Office at the time |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Lenin Moreno](https://thewaronnews.com/actors/lenin-moreno) | other | President of Ecuador |
| [Rafael Correa](https://thewaronnews.com/actors/rafael-correa) | ordered | President of Ecuador |

## Sources

1. Ecuador's communications law has sanctioned 675 media outlets and journalists in four years. https://latamjournalismreview.org/articles/ecuadors-communications-law-has-sanctioned-675-media-outlets-and-journalists-in-four-years/ (LatAm Journalism Review, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, 2017-06-25).
2. The U-turn: Moreno steers Ecuador away from Correa's media repression. https://cpj.org/reports/2018/07/u-turn-moreno-steers-ecuador-away-correa-media-communication-law/ (Committee to Protect Journalists, 2018-07-24).
3. Listado de concesionarios ... Disposición Transitoria Octava de la Ley Orgánica Reformatoria a la Ley Orgánica de Comunicación. https://www.arcotel.gob.ec/listado-de-concesionarios-que-cuentan-con-informes-favorables-para-la-renovacion-en-cumplimiento-al-primer-inciso-de-la-disposicion-transitoria-octava-de-la-ley-organica-reformatoria-a-la-ley-organica/ (Agencia de Regulación y Control de las Telecomunicaciones (ARCOTEL), Ecuador).

## Claims cited

[1] SUPERCOM opened over a thousand cases and issued 675 sanctions within four years. Quote: "1,081 cases against media outlets and journalists, of which 675 have ended in sanctions" Source: LatAm Journalism Review, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, 2017-06-25. Ecuador's communications law has sanctioned 675 media outlets and journalists in four years. https://latamjournalismreview.org/articles/ecuadors-communications-law-has-sanctioned-675-media-outlets-and-journalists-in-four-years/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/276, checked 2026-09-22.

[2] Sanctions included fines, written reprimands and forced public apologies. Quote: "324 have been fines, 137 have been written reprimands and 54 have been cases in which the entity or person was forced to offer a public apology." Source: LatAm Journalism Review, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, 2017-06-25. Ecuador's communications law has sanctioned 675 media outlets and journalists in four years. https://latamjournalismreview.org/articles/ecuadors-communications-law-has-sanctioned-675-media-outlets-and-journalists-in-four-years/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/277, checked 2026-09-22.

[3] International human-rights bodies said the law was used to interfere with and punish unfavorable coverage. Quote: "has been used as an instrument to unduly interfere in the content of media outlets and punish them, especially when their coverage is unfavorable or questions the government's actions." Source: LatAm Journalism Review, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, 2017-06-25. Ecuador's communications law has sanctioned 675 media outlets and journalists in four years. https://latamjournalismreview.org/articles/ecuadors-communications-law-has-sanctioned-675-media-outlets-and-journalists-in-four-years/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/278, checked 2026-09-22.

[4] Moreno's communications secretary said the government should eliminate SUPERCOM. Quote: "If we're in a constructive process, we should get rid of the Supercom." Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, 2018-07-24. The U-turn: Moreno steers Ecuador away from Correa's media repression. https://cpj.org/reports/2018/07/u-turn-moreno-steers-ecuador-away-correa-media-communication-law/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/279, checked 2026-09-22.

Source page: https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2013-ecuador-communications-law-supercom. The War On News, CC BY 4.0.