This new EU court ruling is part of an anti-democratic epidemic spreading around so-called ‘liberal democracies’
Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2026/07/05/eu-approves-law/
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
In case anyone actually cares: The (original first instance) ruling is from a small-ish local court in Germany, and the people in question re-posted the RT video on their website which is a comercial enterprise. this is the reason they got hit with the ruling, because the law is targeting comercial entities that carry or reproduce RT misinformation. If they had posted it to twitter, facebook or even their private non-comercial website/blog/whatever, there would have been no problem (besides marking themselves as guillable dum-dums. (if posted to twitter/facebook/insta, it would have been the resposibility of them to remove/block the video/content)
source: i read the court document, like anyone can who can click a link on the original (mis-representative) twitter post.
fun fact: i posted this as a reply to the lemmy ml post of this yesterday, and my comment was deleted and i was banned by mods. I guess they don’t like people who tell the truth over there.
The far-left still defending the now far-right Moscow never ceases being funny. The Soviet Union ceased to exist 35 years ago, but old habits die hard, I suppose.
It’s the same with them and China, which is similarly far-right.
Their reasoning being: because Russia is currently allies with communist states, by invading Ukraine they’re helping communism “fight the imperialist west”.
Like all good propaganda, there’s a kernel of truth in there, buried real deep in the bullshit. However, they’re doing nothing useful by stanning for Russia, especially given Russia are now very much on the back foot.
Thanks for the effort. I appreciate it.
Reading some of your comments here I’m almost positive you were banned for your smarmy attitude and not the “truth telling”
Why not both? :D
I thought the canary was trustworthy, but this line immediately destroyed that thought.
The EU is desperate — like the UK — to shore up its defence of and support for nazi-riddled Ukraine
Yeah, either they pivoted immediately to find alternative funding, or that’s deeply telling of why they report on these problems specifically.
Leftist outlets shooting themselves in the foot once again.
Just ask The Rabble.
In Canada, The Canadian Network on Cuba and local chapters of Cuban solidarity groups are collecting donations, including solar powered generators for hospitals and schools. The federal government recently announced that it would be sending $8 million in humanitarian aid as well. There is hope for more from the federal government since that amount is considered by many to be more like a trial balloon. And it comes the day after billions were pledged to prolong the war in the Ukraine.
https://rabble.ca/columnists/cuba-has-persevered-despite-extreme-adversity/
I’m supportive of The Canary’s reporting on Israel’s genocide, but they’re throwing their credibility away by categorizing Russian propaganda as credible reporting.
You should doubt their reporting on every topic after this.
I think you are misreading what they say. They are not saying RT reporting is credible, they are saying that EU’s court ruling makes objective truth not a valid defense from prosecution.
The ultra-Orwellian move makes no distinction whether what the video says is true. It makes no exemption for journalists.
If <insert your trusted reporter> reposts the video to criticise it for all the lies they are commiting a criminal offense under this ruling.
Like the other commenter here said, they are calling Ukraine nazi-riddled. That’s literal Russian propaganda.
Saying Ukraine, Germany and Europe isn’t nazi-riddled is unfortunately wrong and at current times a bit ridiculous. Saying Russia isn’t nazi-riddled is ludicrous. Thinking Russia is fighting the Nazis is the most delusional thing I have heard.
Thanks, I appreciate the laugh.
When you’re so brainwashed you don’t even believe your own eyes. 😂 or maybe you are one
Maybe we are all nazies! According to Kremlin at least! My country is also nazi according to them. The word has truly lost all meaning by this day.
Funny how some people actually agree on the notion that Russia attacked because nazies. Like how brainwashed can you be?
Ah so the latter. One thing I don’t understand about you people is why deny it? Take some pride in where you stand. Nobody likes a lying coward.
In general, your posts are pretty unbiased, but this one is crazy biased. The writer literally calls Ukraine “nazi-riddled”. It’s like the main Russian propaganda talking point.
On top of that, banning a country’s propaganda arm isn’t a wild restriction of objective truth. RT can post “water is wet” it gets shared, then they change it to “Ukraine is 100% nazis”. It’s completely pointless to share anything RT says or does and only serves to further Russia’s propaganda.
There is no such thing as unbiased. We are all biased by definition since we have our experiences and thoughts that shape us.
RT is already banned in the whole Europe. This ruling is not about banning RT, it’s about negating truth as a valid defense against prosecution. I couldn’t care less about RT specifically. But replace RT with any other entity and then ask yourself if your position would be the same? It never ends with one entity. Once they have the power to use it, they will use it again.
It’s another area where EU is erasing fundamental rights, just like they are trying to do with ID verification, chat control and the recent wave of expanded copyright enforcement where they are literally giving private entities access to ban anything they want.
Usually one would expect news to at least attempt to report in an objective manner. Funny how the site they “stole” the court case link from reports on this much better, covering both sides of the argument.
Absolutely this ruling was about upholding the ban on RT. The court ruled that if you take donations while sharing RT videos, the sanctions also apply to you, and you are criminally liable. It was not about sharing a random link on facebook.
I also do not agree with the decision, but claiming that this ruling is about negating truth is nonsense.
The writer literally calls Ukraine “nazi-riddled”. It’s like the main Russian propaganda talking point.
Does it matter to you whether it’s true or not? Obviously it’s Russian propaganda, but that doesn’t make automatically untrue.
Read this on the topic: Ukraine’s military has a real Nazi problem. It’s an actually well written article by a Ukrainian academic with PHD in history.
The larger issue is that you think you’re not reading propaganda yourself. That there is a free press that reports objectively. Even if there was, it wouldn’t be presented equally to you because of algorithms. Obviously you can’t trust what the enemy writes, but it’s equally foolish to trust what your own captured news media are telling you. It’s approaching a fever pitch here. CRIMINAL PROSECUTION for sharing a video.
This isn’t about hate speech, this is about a difference of opinion on a geopolitical conflict, a proxy war. Imagine you weren’t allowed to share videos because they are all “main Palestinian talking points”.
I’m honestly fucking shocked. I didn’t imagine we’d get here this fast.
Does it matter to you whether it’s true or not? Obviously it’s Russian propaganda, but that doesn’t make automatically untrue.
using “these people exist in this country” as justification for bombing and killing their citizens is exactly what Israel is doing with Palestine right now (hamas is there!!! blow everything up and take their land). This is the exact same thing. It doesn’t matter how true it is, there is zero reason to justify attacking another country in the modern day and age. Zero. I don’t care if the entire country is 100% nazis. Someone existing in another country does not justify any sort of attack.
So yeah, having that be in a news article used as justification just proves that the propaganda is working. Even on that Ukrainian PhD. It’s irrelevant how many nazis are there. Let Ukraine deal with that.
So in other words, you don’t care if something is true or false, if it’s “politically incorrect” it needs to be suppressed and it’s morally wrong to point it out. MAGAts, climate change deniers or anti-vaxxer do the same.
ML users and strawmen, a match made in heaven.
Wow, you really showed that straw man who’s boss!
Search for the term putinism and how it checks boxes for neo-fascism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putinism#Relation_to_fascism
The experts generally believe that Putin’s Russia is not fascist.
And no, I’m not a fan of Putin at all. Two things can be true at the same time.
This is a useful modern definition of fascism: What Is Fascism? An Excerpt From “Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It” | Truthout
LOL. Read the whole article and not the only part that is comfortable for you. Because some specialists believed this way only when russia wasn’t engaged in war and hasn’t have mobilization.
I’ve read the book. Russia isn’t unequal based on racial identity. You could make the case it’s more sexist and that misogyny is a form of fascism too. But state policy is that the genders are equal. Putin is a sociopath, a dictator, a tyrant or a totalitarian, but he’s not a fascist.
Mobilizing and going to war simply doesn’t make a country fascist. You’d also have to apply the label to all countries who joined the illegally war on Iraq and Afghanistan.
I hate Putin’s Russia. Mostly because of the decades of agitprop he pumped into destabilizing western democracy and his climate change denial. He and his cronies deserve death.
But that doesn’t change the historical facts of how regime change came about in Ukraine, that the CIA/NED funded the main Euromaidan organizer and collaborated with the extremist right wing forces there. It doesn’t change the fact that Ukraine is being used by the US and now the EU to bloody Russia, for geopolitical purposes. It doesn’t change the fact that NATO is historically and in fact enemies with Russia and that they have legit security concerns. That there were and still could be diplomatic solutions. That this needless war is severely damaging European stability and transferring massive amounts of wealth to the military industrial complex. That the entire western mainstream media is engaging in disinformation on the history and whitewashing the Ukraine nazi problem. That we’re literally loosing our freedom of expression.
Two things can be true at once. Putin can be a heinous monster, and everything about the war can be a lie and wrong.
I’m honestly shocked how many liberals outright deny facts for political correctness. I see no differents to MAGAts or climate change deniers here. I guess there is also a vast amount of political operatives and volunteers active on Reddit and Lemmy to shut down any opposition to the war and the facts.
RT salty that their propaganda isn’t welcome, unveils the Canary as the next russian propaganda outlet that needs to be banned.
Whatever you think about Russia or RT, this is a wildly authoritarian law that will not stop at RT or Russian propaganda. EU has proven itself to be a bad judge of truth, by supporting genocide on Palestine and actively suppressing reports on Nazism in Ukrainian military as well as in other European militaries. You should be worried that the same EU is now starting to criminalise sharing news that doesn’t fit its narrative.
What about my comment do you disagree with?
The part where you go for the slippery slope fallacy.
The part where you go for the appeal to ignorance fallacy.
But mostly the part where you blatantly propagate Russian misinformation.
So basically, your entire comment.
Russia has more fascist than Ukraine and has the same imperial mindset at the Nazis, but somehow Ukraine is Nazi-riddled? Like, how easily manipulated can someone be?
Tell me, how many countries has Ukraine invaded since they became independent of the USSR?
This article is about a ban on RT news videos. Do you even know what RT publishes? They have a higher journalistic standard than the largest newspapers in Germany and The Netherlands (Bild and Telegraaf), both of which publish fascist bullshit and Palestinian genocide denial on a regular basis. That should tell you something about the arbitrary nature of this ban.
This discussion is not about whether Russia or Ukraine has more nazis, it’s about EU providing weapons and other types of material support to nazis in Ukraine and labeling al newspapers with original reporting on this as pro Russia propagandists.
Edit to clarify: RT is not the only newspaper reporting on Ukrainian nazis getting material support from the EU. Local independent European newspapers report on it as well but are very quickly labelled as pro Russian propagandists by EU officials, even if these newspapers consistently state that Russia is the agressor in this war. You may call it a slippery slope fallacy but personally I do not think it’s unreasonable to worry about the EU further criminalising reporting on the Russian-Ukrainian war that doesn’t fit EU’s narrative.
RT is not the reason why EU support for Ukraine is losing popularity under the European population. It’s because EU governments use it as an excuse for extreme austerity measures that will kill disabled people and make education and healthcare a privilege for the wealthy. Once the EU realises that the RT ban is not delivering the anticipated results, they will have to think of new, more authoritarian ways to control the masses.
aww. picked the wrong pile of Putin Puppets
Will they do the same with zionist propaganda media?
Surely after sanctions against Israel. I don’t see that happening any time soon unfortunately.
Of course not, but you can bet your ass Al Jazeera and pro-Palestinian media are next and they’ll use the same excuse.
With so many activists, independent media, documentaries, journalists, and so on reporting and supporting Palestine, of course it’s not possible. UE is not authoritarian right wing regime like Russia.
The article cites some random X post as a source along with the actual legal document. Credible stuff.
Apparently it has been prohibited to broadcast RT since 2014 (Article 2f(1) of Regulation No 833/2014). So I guess the only newsworthy part is that someone was prosecuted.
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It literally links to the ruling. https://courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/r-v-staatsanwaltschaft-saarbrcken-cjeu-judgment.pdf
Funny how their link to the ruling points to a more credible news source - courthousenews. This is the original article:
https://www.courthousenews.com/eus-top-court-says-russia-media-ban-reaches-donation-funded-bloggers/
Slightly less biased article.
Hard to get support for more Western military excursions if you don’t restrict information that could sway people’s minds against them.
Thank god Russia does not restrict information. They all seem so well informed!
