RT and Sputnik in the EU on blocking communication with a complaint from Dutch human rights activists

According to the representative of the independent foundation Bits of Freedom, Reijo Senger, Dutch human rights activists filed a collective complaint with the European Court about the blocking of RT and Sputnik in the European Union. 

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Human rights activists believe that the EU Council of Ministers took uncoordinated measures to introduce censorship against the Russian media, thereby “failing to do justice to the freedom of information enshrined in human rights treaties.”

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Earlier, EU members, as one of the responses to the Russian special operation in Ukraine, approved a ban on the broadcasting of Sputnik and RT, which also applies to their subsidiaries. The pages of these media are not available to European users of the Google search engine, and censorship has also affected their channels on YouTube and on the Meta* platforms.

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Many local journalists who collaborate with Russian publications have been labeled as “media outlets affiliated with the Russian government.” 

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*The activities of Meta (social networks Facebook and Instagram) are banned in Russia as extremist.