The EU Has Banned RT and Sputnik to Stop Putin's Misinformation

The EU has banned Russia's state-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik immediately because they disseminated inaccurate information over the country's invasion of Ukraine. The move is unprecedented for the 27-country bloc.

By the sanction, EU operators are forbidden to broadcast, facilitate, or otherwise contribute to the diffusion of any RT or Sputnik content.

Licenses and authorizations, transmission and distribution agreements between the two companies and their EU counterparts will also be suspended.

This ban applies to all English-language operations of RT in Britain, Germany, France, and Spain.

As part of its assault on Ukraine, the Kremlin uses systematic information manipulation and disinformation, said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. "It is also a significant and direct threat to the Union's public order and security."

YouTube, Sputnik, and Facebook's Meta FB.O are already blocking access to RT in Europe, as are Alphabet Inc's Google GOOGL.O and Alphabet's YouTube. Twitter will abide by the EU ban, TWTR.N reported. 

In response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said it would remove Russian state-owned media outlet RT's mobile apps from the Windows App store and ban advertisements on Russian state-sponsored media.  

RT and Sputnik will no longer display any ads from its ad network on Bing or display any state-sponsored content on RT and Sputnik, the company said.