RT and Sputnik, two media outlets affiliated with the Russian state, are living their last moments within the European Union. The President of the European Commission announced on February 27 the blocking of the two media to ensure that they do not “ will be better able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and sow discord in our Union “.
RT has been banned in Germany since early February. In France, the legal details of the application of what should take the form of a European regulation remain obscure. Meta, ByteDance, Google, Microsoft and even Telegram anticipated the decision, Twitter is lagging behind.
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Suspension of Facebook and YouTube, the real blow for the two Russian media
The day before Ursula von der Leyen spoke, Meta and Google had already decided to withdraw the monetization and recommendations of the two channels on their Facebook, Instagram and YouTube platforms. Things accelerated after the president’s speech, where the announcements of suspensions came in cascade.
RT and Sputnik gradually disappeared from social networks from February 28. Nick Clegg, Meta’s vice president of global affairs, announced, ” we will restrict access to RT and Sputnik across the EU for the time being “. He explains this decision by requests from a number of governments and the EU “.
We have received requests from a number of Governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state controlled media. Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time.
—Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) February 28, 2022
According to The world, the same day ByteDance, parent company of TikTok, made RT and Sputnik inaccessible in France and probably in Spanish or English in the European Union. Microsoft has ended the delivery of RT and Sputnik content on MSN.com, removed both media apps from its store and limited its Bing search engine results. Brad Smith, president of the company founded by Bill Gates, assumed“ We are moving quickly to take further steps to reduce exposure to Russian state propaganda “.
Google Europe went there with its own statement on 1er March, rendering RT and Sputnik inaccessible in the European Union with immediate effect, “ given the ongoing war in Ukraine “. Twitter, meanwhile, doesn’t seem willing to take such a drastic step at this time.
RT France was suspended from YouTube on March 1.
If it appeared at Century Digital that it was less obvious to come across the content and accounts of the two Russian channels, officially the social network simply indicated a mention describing RT and Sputnik as linked to the Russian government. Insufficient for the Secretary of State for Digital Cédric O. He reproached on France Inter to Twitter to be always the last to react » in moderation, this March 1st.
By losing its Facebook and YouTube accounts, RT and Sputnik France are losing their preferred broadcasting channels. The impact on their audience promises to be very significant. Both suggested that their audience follow them on Telegram, to continue to have access to their content.
However, as has remark the journalist of Politico Laura Kayali, the RT France account has also been deleted from encrypted messaging. At the time these lines are written, Sputnik France is still available, according to the observation of Digital Century. Telegram did not communicate on the subject.
The Telegram link shared by RT France on Twitter does not work.
On what legal basis will the RT France channel and the sites be banned?
Apart from Twitter, RT and Sputnik have only two broadcasting channels in France, with minimal attendance, their websites and the RT France television channel, available on cable.
Arcom, the result of the merger of CSA and Hadopi on 1er January, theoretically has the power to suspend the frequencies of RT France. On February 24, the agency did not hesitate to warn the channel, ” If it deems it justified, the regulator will not hesitate to make use, without delay, of the legal tools at its disposal and which can go so far as to request the suspension of its broadcast. “.
Stop on Images also notes that there is a procedure unrelated to Arcom to achieve this result. This implies that the president of the litigation section of the Council of State investigates a file, on the basis of which a judge could cut RT France. On France InterCédric O estimated “ We are not within the scope of what the Arcom does to sanction the channel, without giving more details on the legal procedure that will be used.
As soon as Ursula von der Leyen announced, RT France denounced ” a violation of the rule of law and runs counter to the very principles of freedom of expression and information “. The channel recalled that it employed 176 employees in France, including more than 100 journalists. She added that ” RT France has always complied with its legal obligations and is subject to the obligations it holds under its broadcasting agreement “.
The main union of the profession, the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) conceded, on February 28, “ Quite logically, the editorial positioning of RT France is often discussed and contested “. He deplore while ” Attacking journalists, expelling them, banning the channels or newspapers in which they work constitutes, whatever the intentions displayed, an act of censorship which reduces the pluralism of information “.
European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said on Tuesday 1er march on RTLthat the sanction taken by the European Commission should be implemented today.