EU sanctions on "pro-Russian" outlet and Russian media
Plus a mini-guide on how to avoid censorship and protect/improve your on-line privacy and security.
Yesterday (15th May 2024) The Guardian reported about EU introducing new sanctions banning the online news outlet Voice of Europe, as well as 3 Russian media outlets: Izvestia, Rossiiskaya Gazeta and Ria Novosti, thus joining Sputnik and RT (Russia Today). I think the only big Russian news media outlet that has not been banned from the EU is TASS. So much for democracy and freedom of speech in Josep Borrel’s garden!
This in spite of Maria Zakharova’s warning at her weekly briefing and on her Telegram channel a few hours earlier on the same day (all emphasis original):
We have repeatedly said that our country is subjected to information aggression by NATO, its individual member countries and collective institutions within the bloc.
The European Union, which has become a trading appendage of NATO, is preparing to ban the broadcasting of several more Russian media outlets. This is what the Bloomberg news agency reported, citing European Commission Vice-President Vera Yurova, and it is being used to spread controlled leaks.
I cannot say whether this will happen now or in some time, whether these plans in the form of concrete decisions are “on the table” and waiting for their time. But just in case, I would like to remind all those hotheads in Brussels that dozens of journalists from EU countries live and work in Russia in great comfort. They will not want to leave our country, which they hate only in their paid publications, and so they are enjoying life in Russia.
If similar measures are taken against Russian journalists and media outlets by the EU or individual countries, Western journalists will also have to feel our retaliation. We will respond lightning-fast and extremely painful for Westerners.
If even one Russian media outlet is subjected to unjustified restrictions, this will have a ricochet effect on their colleagues here in Russia. This is not a threat or even a warning, but a statement of an inevitable scenario under certain circumstances. Just in case, we wanted to dot all the i's in advance.
So, if you are having problems accessing any of those aforementioned news media outlets and want to avoid/circumvent the censorship, here are my suggestions and recommendations, which, as a bonus, will also improve your privacy and security:
dump browsers such as Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge - these are used by the Outlaw US Empire, EU and NATO to spy on you and track you everywhere;
instead, use alternative privacy-friendly browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera or even Tor for maximum safety and anonymity;
if using Mozilla Firefox, use a VPN (Virtual Private Network), such as ProtonVPN and NordVPN; however, the Opera browser comes with its own built-in VPN that you can turn on/off at your will just with a click - that’s why I would recommend Opera, unless you are looking for max. anonymity while surfing the net (in this case use Tor);
if using Firefox or Opera, I would also suggest that you go through the settings and personalize them according to your preferences in terms of security, privacy, anonymity and tracking;
finally, I would recommend that you drop search engines such as Google and Bing (for the same reason as point 1, as well as to avoid their filters and biases) and instead use alternative options such as DuckDuckGo and Brave Search - by the way they also have their own privacy-friendly browsers.
I would also suggest that you switch from YouTube to alternative options such as Rumble and Odysee, especially if you are looking for videos censored by YouTube and Google (e.g. videos from RT).
UPDATE (17/05/2024): Maria Zakharova has responded to the EU sanctions banning the Russian outlets with a post on her Telegram channel (all formatting original):
⚡️ Commentary by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, M.V. Zakharova, in connection with another act of EU censorship against Russian media outlets
On 17 May, the EU Council published a decision to ban ‘broadcasting activities’ of three Russian media outlets on the territory of the EU countries. RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta fell under another wave of censorship restrictions by Brussels. These media outlets have been ordered to completely stop distributing any content in the EU via electronic mass media. The European Union makes no secret of the fact that this flagrant violation of the right to free access to information and attempts to silence the truth are based solely on political motives.
We regard this step by the EU as a continuation of the practice of political censorship and the total cleansing of the information space of any alternative viewpoints to Western narratives. This is yet another of the many examples of the neglect by the European Union and its member States of their international obligations to ensure media pluralism and yet another example of the degeneration of democratic societies in the countries of the “collective West”.
❗️ We have repeatedly and at various levels warned that the use by the European Union and its member States of repressive measures against Russian media outlets and their staff will not go unanswered on our part. Ignoring these warnings forces us to apply retaliatory measures, which will inevitably follow. The responsibility for this development lies solely with the EU and the EU capitals that supported this decision.
I am not aware of any Russian retaliatory measure yet, but I am pretty sure that they will follow suit, as Maria Zakharova said.