EU and Russian state media face off in court over press freedom

LUXEMBOURG (CN) — Russian state media outlet RT France argued before the European Union's second-highest court Friday that a bloc-wide ban on its content violates the freedom of the press, while Brussels and a group of EU states said the organization is Kremlin propaganda. 

The European General Court heard arguments from the French arm of RT, previously called Russia Today, contesting a March broadcast ban by the European Council, which claimed the media outlet was spreading dangerous propaganda about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

"RT France says they practice pluralism, but they aren't fooling anybody," said Tanguy Stéhelin, a lawyer representing the French government.

The ban was implemented by the European Council, an EU policy-making institution made up of national leaders, but the decision is being defended in court by the European Commission, the bloc's representative for foreign affairs and security policy and six individual countries. 

The Russian state-controlled news network found itself cut off from social media and pulled from EU television packages after the sanctions were put in place.

"We will ban the Kremlin’s media machine in the EU. The state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik, and their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the time. Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter blocked RT accounts while Apple, Microsoft and Google pulled RT from app stores. 

The French-language unit, RT France, which employs 116 journalists in France, appealed the ban. The Luxembourg-based General Court denied its request for emergency measures, which would have given the outlet a temporary reprieve in March. Its lawyers argued that the ban was an attack on press freedom and that Brussels overstepped its powers.

"You cannot ban a media platform because they have a link with the other camp," RT France’s lawyer Emmanuel Piwnica argued Friday. 

But the European Commission, the EU's executive arm based in Brussels, argued it could do exactly that.

"This is about protecting the European public from the repercussions of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine, which is occurring on the EU's borders," said Daniel Calleja Cresp, director-general for environment at the European Commission.

Calleja Cresp cited the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which specifically outlaws the use of propaganda to promote war. He argued that the EU has an obligation to ban RT under international law. 

This isn't the first time RT has come under fire in the EU. Germany blocked several German-language RT channels in 2021, claiming the company did not have the right license to broadcast in the country.

But not everyone is happy with the sanctions. A group of media freedom organizations, including the Dutch Association of Journalists and the Press Freedom Fund, opposed the ban.

"We are not fans of RT and Sputnik. It is state propaganda. But if government leaders can independently prohibit information, it affects the democratic constitutional state as a whole," Thomas Bruning, the general sectary of the Dutch Association of Journalists, told the Dutch broadcaster NOS last month. 

Brussels stressed that RT France was a propaganda outlet and the case had nothing to do with the media.

"Freedom of the press is primordial in a democratic society but RT France is not able to benefit from this because it is not independent from the Russian state," said Frank Hoffmeister, arguing for the high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy.

Although the hearing was held rather quickly after the sanctions were put in place, a verdict is expected to take months. 

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