“The authorization necessary according to media law” was “neither requested nor granted”, according to the German regulator.
The German media regulator announced on Wednesday the ban on the broadcasting in the country of the Russian channel Russia Today (RT) in German, launched on December 16 and already deprived of satellite distribution, amid tensions between Moscow and the West. “The broadcast of the RT DE television program“, still available on the website and a mobile application, has been “prohibited” because “the necessary permission according to media law“has been”neither requested nor granted“, According to a press release from the federal agency ZAK.
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Youtube had already suspended Russia Today’s German language account the day it was launched in December and, a few days later, the channel’s satellite broadcasting had been suspended at the request of the German authorities. RT DE then replied that this blockage was “illegaland the result of political pressure from Berlin, and Moscow had threatened retaliation.
The channel is headquartered in Moscow and has a Serbian license for cable and satellite transmission, which RT says allows it to be broadcast in Germany in accordance with EU law. The German authority ZAK, however, considers the Serbian license insufficient because RT DE is produced by a company headquartered in Berlin, targeting “a German audience“. Like “the broadcaster of RT DE cannot rely on another legitimate authorization under European law“, the regulator considers that”the broadcast of the program via livestream on the internet, the mobile application, applications for connected televisions and via satellite must cease“.
Tense Russian-European context
The ban comes in a very tense context between Russia and the Europeans on the Ukrainian issue, with Westerners suspecting Moscow of wanting to invade Ukraine. Launched in 2005 as “Russia Today”, the state-funded RT has grown with broadcasters and websites in multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish, German and Arabic.
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Seen as a propaganda tool of the Kremlin internationally, she caused controversy in many countries, notably in the United States, where she had to register as “foreign agent“. In Britain, the authorities threatened to withdraw its broadcasting license, and the channel was banned in several countries, including Lithuania and Latvia. To justify the suspension of the account of RT in German, Youtube had explained that the channel violated its directives in the fight against misinformation about the Covid-19.