BRUSSELS — The European Parliament is considering whether to ban access to Russian websites such as Sputnik and RT from its IT infrastructure.
Scores of websites hosting the broadcasters’ content remain accessible despite the EU sanctioning Russian media across the bloc in 2022 after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists, whose Polish and Italian leaders publicly oppose Russia’s war, asked during a political group leaders’ meeting on Oct. 15 for “Russian propaganda websites under EU sanctions” to be made inaccessible on Parliament’s IT infrastructure.
The request comes from Latvian MEP Rihards Kols, who said he wants the Parliament to block access to RT, Sputnik, VGTRK, ANO TV Novosti and others across all Parliament devices and networks.
“This is a matter of information security, institutional coherence, and the credibility of the Parliament’s position against Russian disinformation,” he told POLITICO, adding that “the Latvian national media regulator has raised the issue directly with [Parliament] President [Roberta] Metsola.”
If approved, the measure would mirror restrictions already imposed on the social media giant TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing, over network security concerns. The TikTok app was blocked on the Parliament’s Wi-Fi and devices in March 2023.
Several political group leaders expressed concerns that the ban could set a precedent for websites being banned “for reasons other than security,” and cited the technical and legal challenges of enforcing such restrictions, according to the meeting notes.
Metsola is “investigating” the possibility and studying which other measures are applied in other EU institutions, according to the notes.
Kols said “a solution is expected to be proposed in the near future.”
The Parliament’s press service said in a statement the matter will be discussed again in a future leaders’ meeting. “The European Parliament takes the protection of its users and their data seriously and implement measures to protect these and its infrastructures.”
The post European Parliament weighs banning Russian media from its networks appeared first on Politico.
