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French company Eutelsat, in which the French state is the biggest shareholder, provides the satellite transmission of television channels and radio stations including Russian channels Rossiya 1, Perviy Kanal and NTV, which are distributed by NTV+ and Trikolor in Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic countries. Since July 2022, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international non-profit organisation that seeks to defend and promote freedom of information, has been challenging Eutelsat’s activities. It claims that content broadcast by the Russian channels breaches the obligations of audiovisual...

Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, published its first report on video-sharing platforms (VSPs) since becoming the statutory regulator for such platforms established in the UK. This is the first of its kind under the VSP regime and reveals information previously unpublished by in-scope regulated companies. - Platforms’ compliance with the new VSP regime Ofcom’s report outlines the regulator’s key outcomes from the first year of regulation (October 2021 to October 2022). Its findings stem from the use of the regulator’s statutory powers under section 368Z10(3)...

With decisions nn. 275/22/CONS and 288/22/CONS published on 4 August 2022, AGCOM issued severe penalties against a website (Top Ads Ltd) and, for the first time, the video-sharing platform YouTube with a "notice and take down" order for 625 instances of illegal content and a "notice and stay down" order for prohibited gambling advertising of similar unlawful content. The investigation conducted by the Italian Authority found a violation of Article 9 of the Italian decree-law n°. 87/218 prohibiting direct and indirect gambling advertising (advertising for games with...

On 6 June 2022, the National Electronic Mass Media Council of Latvia (NEPLP) blocked 80 Russian TV channels in Latvia, thereby prohibiting all Russian TV channels from broadcasting in Latvia. The Parliament of Latvia has further expanded the powers of NEPLP by amending the Electronic Mass Media Law several times as a result of which the number of banned broadcasting channels continues to increase. Since the beginning of April 2022, three sets of amendments to the Electronic Mass Media Law have been introduced. The first set of amendments, which entered into force on 21 April 2022, grants the...

In a decision of 28 April 2022, the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurt am Main Appeal Court – OLG) rejected a complaint lodged by the provider of the German language version of the Russian TV broadcaster RT (RT DE) about an article published in the Bild newspaper. In particular, the article had alleged that the broadcaster had been involved in Russian spying activities linked to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. In view of the overall context of the Bild article, the OLG considered the allegation to be an admissible expression of opinion. The disputed article was published...