Harm Principle

A philosophical principle that individual liberty may be justifiably limited only to prevent harm to others; restrictions on freedom require a demonstrable causal connection to the prevention of significant, non‑trivial harm to persons other than the actor.

A political normative rule holding that the state or others may legitimately restrict an individual's liberty only to prevent actions that cause or create a significant risk of harm to other persons; conduct that affects only the actor’s own interests ordinarily falls outside the scope of permissible interference.

A normative decision rule, originating in political philosophy and used in journalism ethics, that limits publication or disclosure when the foreseeable and significant harm to others from the disclosure outweighs the public interest in publishing it; it requires assessment of probability, scale, and severity of harm relative to the informational value.