09 Dezember 2022
No Rainbow without Rain?
On 6 December 2022, Latvian National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) revoked the broadcasting licence of the independent Russian TV channel ‘TV Rain’. The measures taken against TV Rain in Latvia raise intricate legal questions from an EU law point of view: Is the crackdown on the anti-war Russian TV channel compatible with EU-wide rules on audiovisual media? Can the Latvian government lawfully request YouTube to make TV rain’s channel inaccessible in Latvia? This blogpost argues that EU law is powerless when confronted with possibly unjustified national restrictions against media outlets and their growing spillover into the Internet sphere. Continue reading >>
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15 September 2022
Missing Freedom Act
The European Commission is due to present its Media Freedom Act (MFA) this week. The MFA is not welcomed by several states, for different reasons. Some fear that their current system of media freedom and pluralism will be compromised. Others worry that their captured media scene will be exposed and investigated. Both types of opponents can relax because the Media Freedom Act draft is as impactful as a light breeze. It only scratches the surface, and important safeguards are missing. Continue reading >>
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08 März 2022
The EU’s “Ban” of RT and Sputnik
Denouncing Russian authorities‘ “muzzling“ of independent media and reiterating its support for media freedom and pluralism, the European Union banned two Russian media outlets in March 2022. This apparent contradiction between a statement of principle and concrete action can be resolved. While the ban can be legally justified as a measure designed to suppress “propaganda for war”, European institutions should not try to justify it by pointing to these outlets’ track record of “disinformation” or simply “propaganda”. To address legitimate questions of double standards that will come up in the wake of the inevitable whataboutism, it should be stressed that the Union’s measures differ decisively from any authoritarian censorship by virtue of the Union’s character as a community of law. Continue reading >>15 August 2021
The Lex TVN and the End of Free Media in Poland
Law & Justice, the ruling party in Poland, plans to reform the media by introducing restrictions on ownership of TV and radio broadcast companies. Entities from outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) may not, under the proposed law, control more than 49% of shares in such companies. This pertains both to holding shares directly and indirectly, via companies established in the EEA. If the law will ultimately enter into force is still uncertain. If it does, though, it will deliver a serious blow to, already weakened, free media in Poland. Continue reading >>
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31 Oktober 2020
On Publishers, Carriers, and Bookstores
The next American election is just days away, so you’d think that most American politicians would be focusing on campaigning either for their own election (or re-election) or for their colleagues and allies who are running now to attain or retain elective office. But not this week. Weirdly enough, the United States Senate took time off from campaigning—even though the official election date is next Tuesday, and millions of American voters are voting in advance of the election or have already voted—to host a hearing whose nominal purpose was to discuss whether a formerly obscure but now hotly disputed statute known as “Section 230,” which plays a central role in limiting legal liability for internet services, needs to be updated. Continue reading >>
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30 Mai 2020