French regulator td to reconsider RSF’s request for ban on Russian praganda broadcasts by Eutelsat

“The Council of State, which acts as France’s supreme court for administrative justice, issued this summary ruling today, on 9 December, in response to RSF’s request on 17 November for an injunction rejecting ARCOM’s claim in a letter on 29 September that it lacked the authority to order Eutelsat to st carrying the Russian praganda channels,” Reporters Without Borders informed.

The Council ruled that there is a “serious doubt about the legality” of ARCOM’s position and ordered the regulator to reexamine RSF’s request that it instruct Eutelsat to st broadcasting three Russian TV channels, Rossa 1, Perv Kanal and NTV, to Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic countries.

“This decision is a victory for the right to reliable news and information, and for the fight against the Kremlin's war praganda. We are pleased that our legal arguments prevailed against a regulator that resorted to the most minimalist possible reading of the law to justify its claim to lack authority, and used all sorts of arguments, even the most obviously spurious ones, as grounds for taking no action,” said Christhe Deloire, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

By recognising there is a serious doubt as to the legality of ARCOM's refusal to act, the Council of State is in effect forcing ARCOM to order the French satellite erator to st facilitating the provision of Russian war praganda to no fewer than 15 million satellite TV subscribers, who represent approximately one-third of Russian househds subscribing to TV channels, or 25% of all househds in the Russian Federation.

“This victory is a very important first step,” RSF lawyer Patrice Spinosi said. “It reminds ARCOM of its duty to protect media freedom and France's international obligations. The way is now en to a general ban on French satellite erators such as Eutelsat from contributing – beyond the Eurean Union’s borders or in territories illegally occupied by the Russian army – to the dissemination of pitical praganda and reporting that incites hatred, vience and war crimes.”

The Council of State ruling notes that “neither ARCOM nor Eutelsat seriously disputes the reality, ongoing nature and extent of the harmful consequences likely to result from broadcasting the programs in question to the audiences who receive them.”

RSF has for months has been condemning the way Eutelsat's satellites are used to transmit the three TV channels that are the spearheads of the Kremlin's war praganda, constantly broadcasting content that incites hatred and vience against the Ukrainian pulation, calls for mass extermination and even incitement to genocide. It will now be difficult for ARCOM to refuse to use its regulatory powers.

RSF thanks all those who have assisted this five-month campaign, especially the Denis Diderot Committee and the lawyer Patrice Spinosi and his staff. RSF now calls on ARCOM to accept the consequences of the Council of State's decision and to give Eutelsat formal notice to st broadcasting these three Russian channels. RSF also urges the regulator to play its re in the defence of the Eurean news and information space.