Delfi (web portal)
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | News media, Online news portal |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | MicroLink |
| Headquarters | Estonia |
Area served | Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, formerly Ukraine and Poland |
| Products | Online news services |
| Owner | Ekspress Grupp |
| Parent | Ekspress Grupp |
| Website | delfi |
Delfi (sometimes stylized as DELFI) stands as a prominent news platform serving Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, delivering daily reports on topics ranging from politics to gardening. It is recognized as one of the most frequented online portals within the Baltic area.
The website is accessible through the domains delfi.ee, delfi.lv, and delfi.lt, offering content in Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian languages throughout these nations. In March 2012, Delfi expanded its reach by launching a Polish edition at pl.delfi.lt, which was followed by an English-language version at en.delfi.lt in 2013.
Delfi discontinued its Ukrainian service with the shutdown of delfi.ua in March 2014.
Starting February 2016, Delfi implemented a subscription-based paywall for most English articles on delfi.lt, in collaboration with the Lithuania Tribune. This paid access model was subsequently applied to other language versions.
Company development
Established in 1999 by the Estonian firm MicroLink, Delfi was acquired by the Norwegian company Findexa in 2003. Later, in 2007, the Estonian media conglomerate Ekspress Grupp purchased full ownership of Delfi for €54 million. The brand operates uniformly across the three Baltic states—Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia—as well as previously in Ukraine. Delfi maintains news bureaus located in Moscow, Kaliningrad, Warsaw, and Stockholm, sourcing information from the Baltic News Service alongside various wire agencies.
Freedom of speech
Delfi permits anonymous commentary on its news stories, which has ignited discussions concerning freedom of speech within the Baltic nations. Certain members of the Estonian and Lithuanian parliaments have suggested legislation to hold Delfi and comparable platforms liable for comments posted anonymously. In 2006, Vilnius mayor Artūras Zuokas requested prosecutors to confiscate Delfi’s servers to identify anonymous users who criticized him.
In June 2015, the European Court of Human Rights determined in Delfi AS v. Estonia that assigning responsibility to Delfi for user-generated comments did not breach the free speech guarantees under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Patron of the University of Latvia
Since 2018, Delfi has acted as a bronze-level patron of the University of Latvia Foundation, providing support to students enrolled in Communication Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences as well as other Communication and Journalism programs across Latvian universities. That year, Delfi granted its inaugural scholarships amounting to a total of 10,000 EUR. Additionally, the company functions as an internet partner and sponsor for the social scholarship Ceļamaize 2009.