Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Signs Law Allowing Government to Block News Sites

• A new law lets the Ukrainian government to block internet sites that are not registered as media.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the legislation on Thursday following Ukraine’s parliament authorized it.
• Teams symbolizing journalists say that the legislation undermines push freedom.

A new regulation signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could give Ukraine’s government powers to block media outlets.

Zelenskyy signed the legislation on Thursday immediately after Ukraine’s parliament passed it before in December, The New York Occasions described. Lawmakers have touted the bill as an energy to provide Ukraine’s media laws closer to European Union standards as the state makes a bid to join the 27-member bloc. They have also argued that it will support counter Russian propaganda as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears its one-calendar year anniversary.

But businesses symbolizing journalists say the law will erode press freedoms in Ukraine. Underneath the law, Ukraine’s media regulator could block internet sites that are not registered with the federal government as news corporations, The Kyiv Unbiased described on Friday. 

The regulation is at odds with freedoms presented to the press in other elements of Europe, the European Federation of Journalists mentioned in a assertion on Friday, according to the Moments. 

Ukrainian lawmakers have been looking at a new legislation regulating the media because 2019, when Zelenskyy directed parliament to draft it. The version that Zelenskyy signed on Thursday is not as sweeping as a prior draft, which the Federation identified as “worthy of the worst authoritarian regimes.”

The legislation also drew criticism from the authorized department of the Ukrainian parliament, which claimed that lawmakers did not do ample to look into irrespective of whether the bill would guide to govt censorship.

Given that Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has launched modifications to how the media operates. In March, for occasion, Zelenskyy signed off on combining the country’s nationwide tv channels into a one platform, Reuters claimed at the time.

Zelenskyy himself has expressed frustration with the media at moments. In August, he criticized Ukrainian officers for telling the press about Ukraine’s armed service system.