national security grounds unless there is a real risk of harm to a legitimate interest and there is a close causal link between the risk of harm and the expression. Principle 23. Prohibited speech 1. States shall prohibit any speech that advocates for national, racial, religious or other forms of discriminatory hatred which constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. 2. States shall criminalise prohibited speech as a last resort and only for the most severe cases. In determining the threshold of severity that may warrant criminal sanctions, States shall take into account the: a. b. c. d. e. f. 3. prevailing social and political context; status of the speaker in relation to the audience; existence of a clear intent to incite; content and form of the speech; extent of the speech, including its public nature, size of audience and means of dissemination; real likelihood and imminence of harm. States shall not prohibit speech that merely lacks civility or which offends or disturbs. Principle 24. Economic measures 1. States shall promote a conducive economic environment in which all media can flourish, including through the adoption of policies for the provision of financial or other public support for the sustainability of all media through a fair, neutral, independent and transparent process, and based on objective criteria. 2. States shall ensure that the allocation of funds for public advertising is transparent and subject to public accountability, and they shall not abuse their power over the placement of public advertising. 3. States shall adopt effective measures to avoid undue concentration of media ownership, whether horizontal or vertical. Such measures shall not be so stringent that they inhibit the development of the media sector as a whole. 18