Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff
On March 4, 2022, two days after the European Union banned the Russian state media outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, Russia blocked access to Western media such as the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and Voice of America. The Russian government declared this was “only the beginning of retaliatory measures in an information war unleashed by the West.” Its argument echoed that of the EU: Western broadcasters were allegedly spreading “disinformation” and “anti-Russian” narratives about the “special operation” in Ukraine, including reports of attacks on civilians and infrastructure.
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Authoritarian regimes like Russia predictably try to block information that contradicts their own propaganda. Open democracies, however, require their citizens to be able to independently evaluate information. They should not give governments the power to decide on “the truth.” In democracies, public opinion should shape politics—not the other way around. Democratic governments should be accountable to public opinion, not control it.
But by sanctioning Russian disinformation, the EU has signaled to its 448 million citizens: We don’t trust you to assess the Kremlin’s propaganda yourself. Yet polls show that a large majority of EU citizens are extremely critical of Russia and support Ukraine.
The EU strategy also hinders precisely those online projects that document Russian war crimes and expose disinformation – including the investigative platforms Bellingcat and Oryx. These platforms rely on open sources, including those from Russia. They search for fragments of information to paint an accurate picture of the situation on the ground. Their evidence exposes Russian lies and propaganda. A ban on access to Russian information therefore harms precisely those who are most effective in combating Russian propaganda.
This text is based on the book “The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom,” published by Johns Hopkins University Press in April 2026. Translated from the English by Thomas Bigliel.
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Jacob Mchangama is the Founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech. He is also a research professor at Vanderbilt University and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
Jeff Kosseff is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow for The Future of Free Speech. He writes about online speech, the First Amendment, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.