Russian propaganda bypasses EU sanctions: accessing RT’s website in France is “child’s play”
The Kremlin's disinformation poses a serious threat to the right to reliable information. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges France's broadcasting regulator Arcom to firmly, urgently, and effectively enforce the European Union (EU)’s sanctions against RT (formerly Russia Today).
It sounds too simple to be true, yet all you have to do is type “RT en français” (“RT in French”) into Google and a mirror site of the Russian propaganda channel’s French-language website appears among the first results. If you click on the displayed web address, you will be directed to a copy of RT’s site, which gives access to all its content. Today, 30 September, you can even watch the Russian channel's programmes live from France without any VPN, a tool that encrypts your internet connection and hides your location.
RT was included on the list of propaganda outlets sanctioned by the EU Council in a unanimous decision on 2 March 2022, a few days after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. RT was described as an entity “under the permanent direct or indirect control of the authorities of the Russian Federation and are essential and instrumental in bringing forward and supporting the military aggression against Ukraine.”
Two and a half years after the ban, RT continues circumventing these sanctions with great success and few resources. Although the channel is no longer accessible by satellite or cable, its website is still accessible even though its included in the EU ban.
“What are European sanctions against Russian propaganda worth after two and a half years of war in Ukraine? Judging by our experience with RT's website in France, their impact is dwindling to nothing due to a lack of strict enforcement. Right now, accessing the RT website is child’s play. Given the serious threat to the right to reliable information posed by the Kremlin's disinformation, we urge Arcom to apply the European sanctions firmly, urgently, and effectively."
The problem was already flagged by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in February 2024, after its journalists managed to access RT’s website without a VPN from the Council of the European Union’s headquarters in Brussels.
The experts unanimously agree: RT is managing to circumvent Europe’s sanctions because of failings in their application by the national authorities - including Arcom in France. The lack of coordination between European institutions is also an important factor.
RT’s presence in France is the most blatant. Yet the non-implementation of European sanctions by internet service providers and search engine companies, such as Google, is a larger problem. According to analyses by the Comité Diderot – a network of academics, experts and media professionnals — that were sent to Arcom and the French Treasury last January, versions of RT (in English, German, Spanish and Arabic) are accessible in France, without a VPN, on over 50 sites and social media accounts. Surveys carried out by the Comité Diderot show the RT situation is similar, if not worse, in countries such as Germany and Portugal.
In the meantime, RT continues the exact activity the EU was trying to sanction, namely, “a systematic, international campaign of disinformation, information manipulation and distortion of facts in order to enhance its strategy of destabilisation of its neighbouring countries, the EU and its member states.”
