Censorship in the European Union

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See also

* Banned political parties by country
* Blasphemy law by country
* Freedom of speech by country
* Hate speech laws by country
* Internet censorship and surveillance by country

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This article is about censorship resulting from European Union actions. For censorship in specific European Union countries, see Censorship by country.

European Union governing bodies have the power to regulate certain types of speech in member countries.

## Legal landscape

[edit]

Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union protects freedom of expression, and "the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers."[1]

The exercise of these freedoms may be subject to restrictions or penalties "as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary."[1] If an actor is affiliated with a foreign state, it additionally cannot invoke protection under the Charter of Fundamental Rights.[2]

## Examples

[edit]

### Russian state media

[edit]

Council of the European Union Regulation 2022/350, passed in 2022, bans "transmission or distribution by any means" of any content from sanctioned Russian state media actors.[3][4] The regulation led to a ban on Russia Today and Sputnik within the EU, as well as subsequent bans on other major outlets.[5][6][7] According to a 2022 Institute for Strategic Dialogue study, the ban caused a reduction in EU traffic to sites associated with Russia Today or Rossiya Segodnya (Sputnik's parent company) by an average of 74%.[8]

The European Union justified the regulation as necessary to counter Russian propaganda following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and to protect the stability and cohesion of the European Union and its member states.[3][7] Notable critics of the ban included the European Federation of Journalists, which stated it "fears the effects of this spiral of censorship on freedom of expression in Europe", and the International Press Institute.[3][8][9] According to academics Natali Helberger of the University of Amsterdam and Wolfgang Schulz of the Hans-Bredow-Institut, the scope of the law was far greater than any EU content moderation beforehand, as it was a sweeping ban on both audiovisual and social media content.[2]

In March 2025, European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picierno notably pressured Italian state broadcaster RAI to cancel an interview with sanctioned Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov.[10]

#### Legal precedent

[edit]

The ban was upheld at the European Union's General Court in July 2022 after a lawsuit by Russia Today France, with the court ruling that the ban was proportionate and legal due to the channel's broadcasting of pro-war propaganda and support for Ukraine's destabilization. The ruling stated that Russia Today's broadcast of "information justifying the military aggression against Ukraine" was "capable of constituting a significant and direct threat to the Union's public order and security".[11] The Court also upheld the ban in March 2025 after a lawsuit by three Dutch internet service providers.[12]

Seamus Allen of the Institute of International and European Affairs argued that through Regulation 2022/350, the EU had given itself "the power to engage in censorship based on subjective criteria", and that the law's precedent would empower the EU to ban the content of such media organisations that engage in the "manipulation and distortion of facts" as determined by the Council of the European Union.[3] Dr. Björnstjern Baade of the Freie Universität Berlin concluded that the ban was lawful if it was justified as banning "propaganda for war", and that it differed from "authoritarian" censorship "by virtue of the [European Union's] character as a community of law", while noting that "great care must be taken to ensure that the justification employed does not establish a precedent that becomes problematic as a slippery slope later on."[13]

### Regulation 2021/784

[edit]

Regulation 2021/784 addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online, passed in April 2021, contains a provision that allows an EU country to request instant removal of content designated as "terrorist".[14] The provision was criticized as enabling censorship by European Digital Rights, Access Now and other civil society organizations, who argued it could be misused by governments or lead to social media platforms incorrectly using automated content moderation to remove legal speech.[15]

### Digital Services Act

[edit]

The EU Digital Services Act, passed in 2022, compels online platforms to remove illegal content including hate speech and misinformation within the European Union.[16][17] Under the DSA, the EU can suspend access to a platform under the DSA if it determines its breach of law "persists and causes serious harm to users and entails criminal offences involving threat to persons' life or safety".[18]

The DSA mandates that online platforms adopt "reasonable, proportionate and effective" measures to mitigate "systemic risks" in four categories: dissemination of illegal content; negative effects for the exercise of fundamental rights; negative effects on civic discourse and electoral processes, and public security; and negative effects in relation to gender-based violence, the protection of public health and minors and serious negative consequences to the person's physical and mental well-being health crises.[19]

In 2023, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton suggested using the DSA to shut down social media platforms if they don't remove content inciting civil unrest.[20] After 65 civil society organizations asked Breton for clarification, he issued a statement that the EU opposes blocking or limiting content on an arbitrary basis.[21][22]

A 2024 report by the Future of Free Speech think tank at Vanderbilt University found that "a substantial majority" (87.5% to 99.7%) of comments deleted under the DSA on Facebook and YouTube in France, Germany, and Sweden were "legally permissible". The study suggested that "platforms, pages, or channels may be over-removing content to avoid regulatory penalties" under the DSA.[21]

According to a March 2025 statement by Henna Virkkunen, the EU's Executive Vice-president of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, the European Union or national regulators "have no power to moderate content or to impose any specific approach to moderation" under the DSA.[23]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Article 11 - Freedom of expression and information". European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. 25 April 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
2. ^ a b Helberger, Natali; Schulz, Wolfgang (10 June 2022). "Understandable, but still wrong: How freedom of communication suffers in the zeal for sanctions". Media@LSE. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
3. ^ a b c d Allen, Seamus. "Censorship and Foreign Propaganda in the European Union: The Implications of the EU's Council Regulation 2022/350 for Freedom to Access Information" (PDF). Institute of International and European Affairs. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
4. ^ Koltay, András (2023). "Censorship as a Tool Against State Disinformation: The Freedom of Expression Implications of the Russian-Ukrainian War". Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law. 10 (1): 1–53. Retrieved 29 March 2025.
5. ^ Chee, Foo Yun (2 March 2022). "EU bans RT, Sputnik over Ukraine disinformation". Reuters. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
6. ^ "EU bans 4 more Russian media outlets from broadcasting in the bloc, citing disinformation". AP News. 17 May 2024. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
7. ^ a b Okholm, Christiern Santos; Fard, Amir Ebrahimi; ten Thij, Marijn (29 July 2024). "Blocking the information war? Testing the effectiveness of the EU's censorship of Russian state propaganda among the fringe communities of Western Europe". Internet Policy Review. 13 (3). doi:10.14763/2024.3.1788. hdl:10419/300751.
8. ^ a b Wagnsson, Charlotte; Hellman, Maria; Hoyle, Aiden (2 January 2025). "Securitising information in European borders: how can democracies balance openness with curtailing Russian malign information influence?". European Security. 34 (1): 127–147\. doi:10.1080/09662839.2024.2321906. ISSN 0966-2839. Retrieved 29 March 2025. "When looking specifically at digital censorship, most research converges on the idea that such a practice is often largely effective in reducing access to restricted content. A case in point is the effectiveness of the EU's ban; the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (2022) showed that EU traffic to sites associated with Rossiya Segodnya or RT domains was reduced by an average of 74%, and in many countries, up to 90%."
9. ^ "Fighting disinformation with censorship is a mistake". European Federation of Journalists. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
10. ^ "No megaphone for Russian propaganda: Soloviev cancelled from Italy's TV". Decode39. 10 March 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
11. ^ "European Union court backs ban on Russia's RT". dw.com. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2025.
12. ^ "General Court upholds media restrictions on Russian propaganda amid Ukraine conflict". EU Law Live. 26 March 2025. Retrieved 29 March 2025.
13. ^ Baade, Björnstjern (8 March 2022). "The EU's "Ban" of RT and Sputnik". Verfassungsblog: On Matters Constitutional. Fachinformationsdienst für internationale und interdisziplinäre Rechtsforschung. doi:10.17176/20220308-121232-0. Retrieved 29 March 2025.
14. ^ "Implementation of Regulation (EU) 2021/784 on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online". EU Monitor. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
15. ^ "European Parliament confirms new online censorship powers". European Digital Rights (EDRi). 5 May 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
16. ^ Tourkochoriti, Ioanna (16 June 2022). "The Digital Services Act and the EU as the Global Regulator of the Internet". Chicago Journal of International Law. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
17. ^ Allen, Seamus (18 December 2024). "The Digital Services Act: Censorship Risks for Europe". IIEA. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
18. ^ "EU's legal weapon facing the heat from US big tech". France 24. 21 January 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
19. ^ Sullivan, David; Pielemeier, Jason (19 July 2023). "Unpacking "Systemic Risk" Under the EU's Digital Service Act". Tech Policy Press. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
20. ^ Goujard, Clothilde; Camut, Nicolas (10 July 2023). "Social media riot shutdowns possible under EU content law, top official says". POLITICO. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
21. ^ a b "Preventing "Torrents of Hate" or Stifling Free Expression Online?". The Future of Free Speech. 28 May 2024. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
22. ^ "Civil society gets its confirmation from EU Commissioner: no internet shutdowns under DSA". Access Now. 2 August 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
23. ^ Haeck, Pieter (10 March 2025). "EU social media law isn't censorship, tech chief tells US critic". POLITICO. Retrieved 12 March 2025.

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Censorship in Europe

Sovereign states|

* Albania
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States with limited
recognition|

* Abkhazia
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Dependencies and
other entities|

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European Union articles

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