The ban on disseminating Russian state media in the EU is in force. Through the measure announced by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the weekend and now implemented the channels RT and Sputnik may no longer be receivable with immediate effect. However, the journalists themselves should not be prevented from doing their work, as EU officials stressed.
The ban came into effect when it was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on Wednesday. All distribution channels of RT and Sputnik in the EU are affected, such as via cable, satellite or the Internet; this also applies to RT offshoots in German or French, for example. It must be implemented by the media regulators of the EU states. “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” said EU Commission Vice Vera Jourovanoch on Tuesday evening after a meeting with representatives of the Group of European Regulators for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA). “We all stand for freedom of speech, but it must not be misused to spread war propaganda.”
There is a risk of a fine of 25,000 euros if the station continues to broadcast without permission
The EU media regulators, who are represented in ERGA, emphasized on Wednesday that they stand united and are committed to contributing to the rapid implementation of the measures by all those involved. Facebook group Meta and video app Tiktok have already restricted access to RT and Sputnik content in the EU. The measures will remain in effect until the aggression against Ukraine ends and the disinformation by Russia and its state broadcasters stops, the Council of the European Union said in Brussels.
The German branch of RT recently fought in court against its shutdown ordered by the media regulator due to a lack of a broadcasting license. The Berlin-Brandenburg state media authority responsible for RT DE had threatened a fine of 25,000 euros for Friday if the station continued to broadcast programs without permission until then. The cessation of the linear program ordered by the media regulator affects “all distribution channels” of RT DE, in particular the various live streams, a spokeswoman said. As a result of the RT DE ban, the Russian government had Deutsche Welle offices in Moscow closedthe case led to diplomatic upheaval.
It is unlikely that the broadcaster would get a license in Germany because of the principle of non-state broadcasting in German broadcasting – the parent organization of RT DE is financed from the Russian state budget. RT DE, on the other hand, states that the company is an independent production company.