https://applecensorship.com/restricting-free-speech-in-europe-is-a-victory-for-autocrats/
Censorship of media outlets, albeit state-owned media regularly engaging in what is labeled by their detractors as “propaganda”, should not be considered lightly. Freedom of access to information, the right to impart news and express opinions of all kinds, as well as the right for the people to choose their source of information from a plurality of choice, are cornerstones of all European democracies.
The decision to impose a ban on RT and Sputnik in the EU differs from other EU sanctions in several ways. All civil society organizations working on press freedom and freedom of speech should take notice.
First, information is an immaterial product that cannot intrinsically be labeled as dangerous. We do not own information, we access it. It is not a supply and therefore cannot be restricted in the same way as cars or computers.
Secondly, the Council’s ban does not directly target the Russian government, the Russian authorities or individuals close to power. It does not even affect Russian citizens, who still have access to RT News and Sputnik News in Russia’s App Store. This ban only affects citizens in the European Union.
Finally, the reasons invoked by the Council to impose the ban on the two media should be an equal source of concern, as they venture well beyond the scope of the invasion of Ukraine. Adding to the accusations of “disinformation”, “propaganda”, and “gravely distorting and manipulating facts”, the Council listed a set of reasons which could serve, by themselves and without any context of war, as justification for a permanent ban of these media outlets:
“The Russian Federation has engaged in a systematic, international campaign of media manipulation and distortion of facts in order to enhance its strategy of destabilisation of its neighbouring countries and of the Union and its Member States. In particular, the propaganda has repeatedly and consistently targeted European political parties, especially during election periods, as well as targeting civil society, asylum seekers, Russian ethnic minorities, gender minorities, and the functioning of democratic institutions in the Union and its Member States.”These criteria effectively allowed the EU Council to bypass media regulators in all member states, which, in any free press environment, are the main institutions with both the ability and the skill set to determine a breach of ethics and to revoke the broadcasting license of media outlets.
Yet, almost none of these regulators, which have existed long before and during the short existence of RT and Sputnik, have taken serious steps to regulate the ethical failures of these media. They have yet to react to decisions taken on their behalf by the EU Council. Only the Office of Communication (Ofcom) in the UK has opened an investigation into these media outlets. .
