The EU’s decision to ban the broadcasting of the Russian state media RT (Russia Today) and Sputnik – which we announced in our previous newsletter (see EUROPE 12901/5) – was published in the Official Journal of the EU on Wednesday 2 March.
These measures, adopted on Tuesday 1 March by Member States, should be “maintained until the aggression against Ukraine ends”.
By way of reminder, the ban affects cable, satellite, IPTV, internet service providers, video sharing platforms and video sharing applications, whether they are new or pre-installed.
Following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal, the broadcasting licences and permits of the two media outlets in question were cut off in several of the EU Member States where they were active.
For their part, Sputnik and RT have reacted to the EU’s decision, with RT editorial staff from the French studio deciding to launch a petition to denounce the broadcasting ban.
At the time of writing, Sputnik’s website was reporting that their content was still accessible on the Telegram and Odyssee apps and had provided tips such as using a VPN to bypass the ban and view the videos on YouTube.
See the publication in the Official Journal of the EU: https://aeur.eu/f/l9 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)