LONDON, March 3, 2022 (AFP) – The Russian state-run English language channel RT, which has been accused of broadcasting “poisonous propaganda” from Moscow over its occupation of Ukraine and the subject of several investigations by the British audiovisual regulator, aired. The UK informed the government this Thursday (3).
“From the moment Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion, I was clear that the broadcaster could not use our free media to spread poisonous propaganda in British homes,” Culture Minister Nadine Doris told parliament.
“After the withdrawal from Sky, Freeview and FreeSat broadcasting services, I was pleased to see yesterday that the channel is no longer broadcast on British television,” he added.
The minister also said that YouTube had already implemented the move to do everything possible to block access to RT in the UK for meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and popular processor TikTok.
RT (formerly Russia Today) is under 27 scrutiny by the British media regulator Ofcom for its lack of impartiality in its coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, London asked for a reconsideration of its broadcasting license, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would prefer it to come from an independent regulator rather than politicians in the name of “freedom of speech”.
Another Russian vehicle, the Sputnik, has been officially banned from the European Union, where its broadcast ban went into effect on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the BBC’s Russian-language news site has tripled its audience since the invasion, averaging 10.7 million visits a week, compared to the same period a year ago, the group said. A statement.
Russian audience for the English-language site bbc.com rose 252% to 423,000 last week.
mpa-acc / mb / mr
“Total creator. Devoted tv fanatic. Communicator. Evil pop culture buff. Social media advocate.”
