Decision of July 27, 2022 giving formal notice to Eutelsat SA
The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication,
Having regard to the Convention of July 15, 1982 establishing the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Eutelsat), in the version resulting from the amendments adopted in Cardiff on May 20, 1999, published in the Journal officiel ofJune 9, 2001;
Having regard to Law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986, as amended, on freedom of communication, in particular articles 1, 3-1, 15, 33-1, 42, 43-2 and 43-4;
Having regard to the broadcast reports of the "NTV Mir" television service shown on April 14, 15, 18, 20 and 24, 2022, translated from Russian into French;
Considering the following:
On the legal manager:
1. Firstly, Article III of the above-mentioned agreement of July 15, 1982 stipulates that Eutelsat SA is subject to the following obligation: "as regards audiovisual services and future services, they shall be offered in accordance with national regulations [...]".
2. Secondly, under the provisions of article 43-4 of the aforementioned Act of September 30, 1986, "television service editors [...] fall within the competence of France if they satisfy one of the following conditions: "1° If they use an uplink to a satellite, from a station located in France [...]".
3. Thirdly, by virtue of article 33-1 III of the same law, television services falling within the competence of France pursuant to articles 43-4 and 43-5 of the same law are subject to the obligations resulting therefrom and to the control of the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication.
4. Thus, under the provisions of the third paragraph of article 3-1 of the same law, "the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication guarantees the honesty, independence and plurality of information and the programs that contribute to it, subject to article 1 of [this] law", by virtue of which "Communication to the public by electronic means is free. The exercise of this freedom may be limited only to the extent required, on the one hand, by respect for the dignity of the human person, the freedom and property of others, the plurality of expression of currents of thought and opinion and, on the other hand, by the protection of childhood and adolescence, by the safeguarding of public order [...]".
5. Furthermore, under the provisions of article 15 of the same law, the Authority ensures that programs made available to the public by an audiovisual communication service do not contain any incitement to hatred or violence based on any of the grounds referred to in article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, including nationality.
6. Lastly, under the provisions of article 42 of the same law, the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication may give formal notice to satellite network operators "to abide by the obligations imposed on them by legislative and regulatory texts and by the principles defined in articles 1 and 3-1". In Eutelsat order no. 277736 of March 3, 2005, the Conseil d'Etat's interim relief judge ruled: "that it is (...) [the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication] to use the powers conferred on it by law to ensure the effective application of the principles it has set out and, in particular, to take appropriate measures to ensure that the transport and diffusion of any program containing incitement to hatred or violence on grounds of race, sex, morality, religion or nationality ceases as soon as possible ; to this end, [it] may issue a formal notice to satellite network operators on the basis of article 42 of the law of September 30, 1986".
On programmes shown on "NTV Mir" on April 14, 15, 18, 20 and 24, 2022:
Concerning the obligation not to incite hatred or violence:
7. It is clear from the broadcast reports that the "NTV Mir" television service tends repeatedly to present not only the Ukrainian leaders and the Ukrainian army, but also and above all the Ukrainian population as adhering to the Nazi ideology of the Third Reich and representing an extreme danger. In addition, the use of military strikes against Ukrainian decision-making centers and the people who work there, but also and especially against the civilian population, is presented as not only legitimate but as needing to be strengthened.
8. For example, on a news programme on April 14, 2022, on the subject of allegedly false information from Ukrainian sources, the commentator stated that "the Ukrainian brainwashers have applied the words of Goebbels: the bigger the lie, the better it gets across", thus drawing a direct parallel with the minister in charge of propaganda in the Third Reich. In addition, on the "Mestro vstretchi" program of April 15, 2022, it was reported that there are 10 million fascist sympathizers in Ukraine, one million people who "like" Nazi websites and 200,000 active fascists ready to kill. In addition, one of the program's participants stated that: "If denazification had really been carried out after the Second World War, we wouldn't be where we are today". Finally, during another news programme on April 20, 2022, Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations stated that the fate of civilians is of little importance to Westerners, pointing out, "We try not to see fascism in Ukraine and we rewrite the history of World War II and Russia's role in the victory over Nazism."
9. Furthermore, in the "Mesto vstretchi" program of April 14, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky was compared to Adolf Hitler, once again fueling the idea that Ukraine represents a danger similar to the Third Reich. In the "Enemy of the Regime" program of April 24, 2022, the Ukrainian president was this time described as "a comedian in the role of Hitler who ordered a missile to be fired at women and children" and referred to as a "drug addict".
10. Finally, during the program "Criminal regime" on April 24, 2022, the Ukrainian army was described as an army of "second offenders, rapists and killers", supporting the theses that Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky needed criminals to consolidate his regime and that there was an endemic violence intrinsic to Ukrainians, thus delivering a particularly disturbing image of the latter. In the "Enemy of the regime" program of April 24, 2022, it was said of Ukraine that "the European democratic mask has definitively fallen to make way for a terrorist state". Ukraine was then described as a "medieval country" committing "medieval tortures".
11. These remarks thus convey a particularly disturbing and threatening image of the Ukrainian population as a whole, likely to incite hatred towards it.
12. Furthermore, it is clear from the reports on the broadcast of "Mestro vstrechi " on April 14 and 15, 2022 that the Russian strategy of military strikes targeting Ukrainian decision-making centers and the people who work there, but also and especially the civilian population, is presented as not only legitimate but as needing to be strengthened. On the April 14, 2022 broadcast, for example, one speaker said of the need for Russian military strikes targeting decision-making centers in Kiev: "This is an excellent decision, because it will eliminate Zelensky [...] and then chaos will reign in the country, which will allow us to emerge victorious from the war quickly." The same speaker added that there are several decision-making centers, which implies "bombing Odessa and Mykolaïv" as well. Following these remarks, some speakers said that they found "the way the war is being waged too soft" or that we should stop "blowing our noses over the fate of civilians". During the April 15, 2022 broadcast, the issue of Russian strikes was once again raised, with one person on set declaring that "when we talk about strikes on decision-making centers, it's not just a question of destroying scrap metal, but the mission is above all to liquidate all the people working in these centers, all the people who make decisions", and another drawing a parallel with the situation in Syria in the following terms: "That's how we did it in Syria. Our first mission is to kill all the political representatives of the Rada, to eliminate Zelensky and his entourage. In this way, the representatives of the United States, Great Britain and Europe will no longer be able to meet anyone in Ukraine."
13. These sequences tend to legitimize the use of violence against the Ukrainian population and are thus likely to incite violence against them on grounds of nationality.
14. Consequently, the diffusion of all the sequences referred to in points 7 to 12 constitutes a breach of article 15 of the law of September 30, 1986. This breach is all the more serious as it takes place against the backdrop of the military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, which began on February 24, 2022.
With regard to the obligation to provide honest information :
15. It is clear from the broadcast reports of the "NTV Mir" television service that a number of serious and unsubstantiated allegations, feeding the springs of Russian propaganda, were shown in order, in particular, to legitimize the war in Ukraine.
16. For example, in the "Mestro vstrechi" program of April 14, 2022, it was stated that "Ukraine, motivated by Western and European decisions, wants to continue [the war] despite the liberation of the southeastern territories by the Russian army", or that the extermination of the Ukrainian general staff, the presidential administration and the administration of various regions would be entirely legal. Furthermore, in the same broadcast on April 15, 2022, it was reported that there were 10 million fascist sympathizers in the Ukraine, a million people who had "Liked" Nazi websites and 200,000 active fascists ready to kill. Finally, in the same broadcast of April 18, 2022, it was reported that "Zelensky is trying to get rid of his soldiers before surrendering", that he was a puppet ordered to kill as many Ukrainian civilians as possible, and that there was evidence that "this butchery" had been planned by the Americans, restricting Russia to start the "special operation" earlier to try to "reduce the consequences".
17. Furthermore, in the "Criminal regime" program of April 24, 2022, statements were diffused tending to assert that the Ukrainian regime had granted amnesty to criminals in order to integrate them into its army with the aim of consolidating this regime and discrediting the Russian army. In particular, it was taken for granted that the Boutcha massacre was the work of a Ukrainian "neo-Nazi " and his team.
18. Finally, in the "Enemy of the Regime" program of April 24, 2022, it was stated that the Ukrainian President is "a comedian in the role of Hitler who ordered a missile to be fired at women and children".
19. The repeated diffusion, in a context of war, of erroneous, decontextualized and biased information, not based on any reliable source of information, constitutes a particularly serious breach of the obligation to ensure the honesty of information.
20. Consequently, the diffusion of such information constitutes a breach of the third paragraph of article 3-1 of the law of September 30, 1986.
21. Consequently, the diffusion by Eutelsat SA of the television service "NTV Mir" seriously infringes articles 3-1 and 15 of the law of September 30, 1986. The company should therefore be served with this formal notice to cease broadcasting the "NTV Mir" service.
After deliberation,
Decides :
Art. 1. - Eutelsat SA is hereby ordered to cease broadcasting the "NTV Mir" service within 48 hours of notification of this decision.
Art. 2 - The present decision will be notified to Eutelsat SA and published in the Journal officiel de la République française.
Paris, July 27, 2022.
For the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication :
Le président,
R.-O. MAISTRE
Decision of July 27, 2022 giving formal notice to Eutelsat SA
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