Europe is intent on kicking Russian state media out of the entire digital infosphere. Even from search engines and social media, as clarified today in an email from the European Commission. In short, the ban does not concern only the TV channels and online videos of those media, as was thought in recent days since the first reading of the measures issued by the European Union.
At the same time, the EU is stepping up its efforts against war disinformation, often originating from the Kremlin: European ministers in a meeting in Paris on Tuesday asked representatives of big techs (Google, Youtube, Meta-Facebook, Twitter) to enhance moderation on its platforms, even with more Russian and Ukrainian moderators.
The war seen on Yandex, the Google of the Russians
by Riccardo Luna
Via the Russian media from the internet
That the ban also affects search engines and social networks emerges from an e-mail, disclosed by Google, in a public database of removal requests. Hence it turns out that last week’s EU sanctions against RT – the Kremlin-backed organization formerly known as Russia Today – and sister Sputnik News are wider than expected. A spokesperson for the European Commission said the ban applies regardless of the distribution channel, including internet service providers. Search engines are asked to de-index Russian media, social networks to prevent the sharing of their content.
The e-mail from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, specifies that its order should be interpreted to include search engines as well because “they facilitate public access to the content of RT and Sputnik”. It also says that social media companies must not publish or delete posts from users who spread or re-copy content from RT or Sputnik. Already in response to last week’s sanctions, telecom companies have been forced to remove the RT television channel from their television services in Europe, and so far in at least some EU countries, they have also blocked RT and Sputnik’s websites.
Social network
Thus Instagram protects Ukrainian and Russian users
Google has also made YouTube video channels inaccessible in Europe, while Facebook, Twitter and TikTok have restricted access to the channels. In Italy, if you search on Google with the words Sputnik and Russia Today, the links to their websites no longer appear. Perhaps paradoxically, given the nature of the sanctions, there is still no such blockade in the United States. In fact, we have also blocked the Facebook and Youtube pages of those two media. EU sanctions include exceptions for media reporting on RT and Sputnik. A French-language spokesperson for RT said today that the sanctions “have no legal basis and violate the principle of free expression.” RT France appealed to the Court of Justice of the EU against the EU sanctions.
Fight against disinformation
But Russian disinformation and propaganda does not happen only through state media. And several reports have reported fake news – sometimes in good faith, often on TikTok – in support of the Ukrainian cause, for example showing no killings. That is why EU telecoms ministers have urged digital companies to ensure that their anti-disinformation capability is adequate in Central and Eastern Europe, a prime target of the Russian hybrid war. “The battles started by Russia in the current conflict are raging not only on the ground, but also on the Internet,” reads the joint declaration adopted unanimously, which urges platforms not to become sellers of disinformation. EU ministers explicitly made two requests. First, platforms should respond more quickly to requests made by governments when they report “fake news” or an account of dubious origin. Second, platforms are being asked to increase their moderation teams in all languages.
The War in Ukraine and the IT Forces of Italy
by Vincenzo Di Nicola
In turn, online platforms have called for a clearer regulatory framework specifying how they should operate in these kinds of circumstances, a request that should be addressed once the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU’s regulation on moderation of content, will finally be adopted. Meanwhile, some companies – such as Meta – have already increased their investments to moderate war fake news.
More responsible big techs, an active part of a battle
What is certain is that the war has given the final sprint to a trend that was already imposing itself: the big techs have now abandoned the last vestiges of “neutral intermediaries” and are full-fledged political-media actors. On the chessboard that now opposes the West and Russia; but also in the economic conflict between Europe and the United States, as evidenced by attempts at regulation such as the DSA and the DMA (Digital Markets Act), also arriving from the EU.
And with the war also the last mask of neutrality is thrown. Not only are the authorities asking big techs to take a stand, but they themselves are doing it independently, as evidenced by the exit of Apple and Microsoft from Russia.