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Nah. But in all seriousness, this is totalitarian ruling. Wtf eu? RT might be a trash fire propaganda news but the EU ain’t at war with Russia. If the people wa

• mediumsmart 5y ago
  It is made illegal precisely because it is not trash fire propaganda. Read some coverage of this crisis on there and judge for yourself.
  • PartiallyTyped 5y ago
    [citation, from a non russian-state owned source, needed]
  • freemint 5y ago
    Russia today does some good reporting which is what makes it dangerous because false information or misleading reporting is mixed in on purpose under control of political russia.
• xyzal 5y ago
  I'm from the Czech Republic (inside former USSR's 'sphere of influence'), and the effects of Russian disinformation campaigns on our society are real. We are in a 'hybrid war' with Russia for at least ten years.
  • kmlx 5y ago
    > and the effects of Russian disinformation campaigns on our society are real is this not a failure of czech/european society at large instead of RT?
    • BeefWellington 5y ago
      One of the primary things the EU can do is turn off some sources of misinformation. If the suggestion it's a failure of society at large because that hasn't been done before then I suppose that could make sense but if it's in response to it being done now that makes even less sense.
    • FrozenSynapse 5y ago
      because idiots exist everywhere, they buy the russian propaganda like warm bread
      • arroz 5y ago
        So either get rid of the idiots or get rid of the propaganda. It is easier to get rid of the propaganda.
        • throwaway5848 5y ago
    • arroz 5y ago
      What society is not susceptible to propaganda? Most Russians still think the war is just in the places where there are large Russian minorities and have no ideia the Russian government is attacking the fucking capital of Ukraine
      • kmlx 5y ago
        > What society is not susceptible to propaganda? oho, slippery slope here. by this measure most media should be banned.
    • asveikau 5y ago
      This is rather like blaming the host for the spread of a virus.
      • 5y ago
• szszrk 5y ago
  • dang 5y ago
    You can't do this here, regardless of how wrong (or inconsistent) someone is or you feel they are. We ban accounts that post that way, so please don't. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
    • szszrk 5y ago
      Yeah, you are likely right. I take it very personal, as it touches current events in a way that Russian propaganda does for years on our local sites. This behavior was insanely intensified in last few days.
• 2000UltraDeluxe 5y ago
  Even though this isn't a shooting war for the EU, there are certain steps that might seem contradictory to the liberal principles that we normally claim to adhere to. Russia has been declared an enemy, even if that exact term might not have been used. In a conflict enemy propaganda will be shut down, and enemy assets will be targeted. This means severe economic sanctions, blocking RT/Sputnik, and arming the Ukrainian armed forces to the teeth. With luck, the Ukrainians will be able to end this without the situation getting out of hand. If not, this might escalate and get real ugly real fast.
• Bancakes 5y ago
  Those who need garbage propaganda and are trained to handle it without manipulation, can use a VPN. Most people don't give 2 thoughts.
  • ttybird2 5y ago
    This article is about such VPNs being potentially banned.
    • Bancakes 5y ago
      China couldn't block tor. Russia can't block tor.
  • yanmaani 5y ago
    Where will you go when they block the VPNs?
    • halfmatthalfcat 5y ago
      A Web3 blockchain distributed serverless onion network
      • yanmaani 5y ago
        Yes, and I earn money to pay my bills from global business dynamic economy enterprise trading. How are you to get on the Tor network?
• halhen 5y ago
  It seems to me that large parts of the world -are- at war with Russia. And, importantly, we manage to put a lot of pressure on the enemy without getting even more people killed.
• perlpimp 5y ago
  Point reference - I try to block RT on YouTube but videos are being sprinkled into recommended list and I try to click to not show this channel anymore, but it persists. Real annoying, if I have autoplay their vids would jump on the list as well as I am preoccupied. Not sure how they are gaming YT algo.
  • rwmj 5y ago
    I wonder (from a technical and legal point of view) if Youtube is blocking RT content in the EU, especially videos which are reuploaded.
• paxys 5y ago
  EU and Russia are at war in all but name. One of the key challenges in such situations is combating enemy propaganda, and so not letting the Russian state controlled broadcaster play in your country 24x7 is a no brainer. Plus it isn't just about the content. Running a TV network can be a massively profitable business, and in this case the money is going out of EU citizens' pockets and straight to the Russian government. Pretty contradictory to impose sanctions and spend money arming Ukraine while also giving Russia a free revenue stream.
  • yanmaani 5y ago
    No. They are not at war "in all but name". War is a brutal thing, involving the deaths of thousands of young men. The EU is not by any stretch at war with Russia, nominally or otherwise. The entire point of a free country is that people can handle the information. If not, why even bother?
    • MrDresden 5y ago
      > War is a brutal thing, involving the deaths of thousands of young men. Just want to point out that most EU millitaries, along with the Ukranians and the US have women as well. So there is death all around, no matter the sex.
      • The_rationalist 5y ago
        That is extremely misleading, men suffer from intense misandrism. Ukrainians men are forced to stay captive in their cities to fight while ukrainian women are allowed to save their lives and flee the city, because they own a vagina.
        • marmarama 5y ago
          No, women are allowed to leave Ukraine because, for the most part, they are responsible for raising the next generation of Ukrainians. The number one long-term job of any society is ultimately to raise the next generation. If you don't do that, the society doesn't exist in one or two generations' time. What you consider misandry is in fact a feminist issue. Women often don't choose a life of childcare; it's something that can be forced upon them, because if they don't do it, no-one else will. Men get to choose whether to get involved. If the share of childcare was more equal, then there wouldn't be a reason to restrict leaving the country on a gendered basis.
• viraptor 5y ago
  > but the EU ain’t at war Not officially, but they provide arms with explicit purpose of supporting one side and economically punishing the other. That's effectively a proxy war whether we call it one or not.
• NicoJuicy 5y ago
  They are literally threatening with nukes. There's plenty of support for having sites like RT. Greetings from a EU member in Belgium
• onion2k 5y ago
  I’m sure there were listener equivalents in neutral places either via SW or MW broadcast in ww2 In WW2 there was propaganda broadcast from Germany, in English and in MW to reach the UK and SW to reach the USA, by William Joyce. He was called Lord Haw-Haw because he pretended to by posh. His broadcasts were designed to demoralize the allied countries. No doubt people in neutral countries tuned in. But that isn't really relevant. The point of the broadcasts was to reach non-neutral people wherever they might be. He was captured in 1945 and hanged for treason. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Haw-Haw https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Haw-Haw
• Shadonototra 5y ago
  It works, the people who wants to protect their interests are mad and are complaining about it on hackernews Soon your crypto portfolio will vanish too ;)
• Razengan 5y ago
  The West has always demonized Russia. “Communism” equals the original sin and “communists” is basically a slur for about a century now. After America worked so hard to unleash the most destructive weapon in human history, everyone should have cowed and crowned them the undisputed hegemons of the Earth. The idea of anyone daring to set themselves up as an antipode was extremely offensive. Even after the fall of the USSR and the convenient appearance of Muslims and Chinese offering themselves as adversary to All That We Cherish, apparently the West can’t resist such a big and easy dart board to pin their failings upon; Unrest in foreign nations? It’s the Russians. Division at home? Damn Ruskies again. I wonder if some racism also comes into play here; Here we were, after so much War, with all the white nations agreeing to get along hereafter, but then there’s these “other” white people who are somehow different and don’t want to play along. After we snuff out Russia, who will we turn upon next?
  • Ajef 5y ago
    > “Communism” equals the original sin and “communists” is basically a slur for about a century now. This is a very US perspective I think. Here in Germany there are many that think communism is fairer than capitalism (although perhaps unrealistic to attain). Insulting something/someone by saying something is communist or someone is a commy is not really something that happens here (except perhaps in politics). [Edit] Just to add some perspective: Communist parties in european parliament https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_communist_parties_represented_in_European_Parliament https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_communist_parties_repr... Even large european countries have communist parties, some even voted into office (such as france, spain) and in the case of Spain even in the ruling coalition. Implying this is a western view neglects to realize how much US vs. Soviet propaganda has shaped the US population.
    • delusional 5y ago
      I can attest to this. "Communist" is a slightly dirty word here in Denmark, but nowhere near the levels of the US. I think the general consensus here is that the USSR was a shitty totalitarian state that failed for shitty totalitarian reasons. Communism was just what they called their brand of totalitarianism. In reality it was a corrupt dictatorship.