A Russian airstrike hit the area around the Ukrainian state TV tower in Kyiv. Five people were killed in the attack.
Eyewitnesses say the tower is still standing but the signal has been interrupted. It is unclear if the tower itself was hit.
“The area surrounding a massive TV tower in Kyiv has been hit by military strikes, according to videos and photos posted to social media that have been geolocated and verified by CNN,” CNN reported. (See video of strike shared by Republic World, an Indian news channel, and video from The Telegraph, including closeup video.)
Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said the TV station will switch to backup systems soon.
The Associated Press reported that the Ukrainian parliament issued a statement saying Russian forces had hit the TV tower in Ukraine’s capital. Deadline reported that this is another step in an unfolding attack on the flow of information coming from Russian sources, and now, from Ukrainian sources. Deadline reported:
Earlier today, Google Europe announced it would be pulling Russian channels RT and Sputnik from Europe, effective immediately, and the EU is meeting later to discuss taking the same channels off linear TV throughout the continent. UK regulator Ofcom is currently investigating RT for breaches of impartiality.
It does not end there. According to 1+1 Media Group in Ukraine, TV providers worldwide are cutting off a number of Russian TV networks that have been broadcasting propaganda. Media providers in Poland, Australia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria and Germany are no longer broadcasting Russian channels RT, NTV, RTR and 1 Channel.
Deadline reported Ukrainian media groups have formed a 24/7 media group called United News that produces a newscast that they hope will offset misinformation and false flag reports coming from Russian media.
1+1 Media, StarLightMedia, Media Group Ukraine and Inter Media Group said they are now showing one newscast entitled United News, which is “promptly providing comprehensive information from different regions of the country.”
The media groups, the four largest in Ukraine, are taking it in turns to helm the show, which has been forged with the co-operation of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council, the Office of the President of Ukraine and other government bodies.
1+1 has also kickstarted a “digital flash mob” and is calling on social media users to use the hashtag #TurnOffRussia when discussing the conflict.
YouTube, Facebook and TikTok are banning Russian state TV in Europe. The Washington Post reported:
The moves by the social media giants came after mounting pressure from the European Commission, the Ukrainian government, some U.S. politicians, and their own employees.
The actions are likely to provoke retaliation from Russia, which has already restricted social media services in response to previous measures the companies have taken to curtail the Kremlin’s ability to spread misinformation and propaganda about its invasion of Ukraine.
“Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we’re blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately,” Google Europe said in a tweet. “It’ll take time for our systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action.”
State media outlets RT and Sputnik have relied on American social networks, as well as Chinese-owned TikTok, to gain massive followings and reach audiences outside Russia’s borders. RT’s Facebook channel has more than 7 million followers, though it’s not clear how many were located in the European Union. RT’s YouTube account has 4.65 million followers in English and 5.94 million in Spanish. RT and Sputnik also run prominent television channels and radio stations in several countries.
Google and Facebook both barred RT and other channels from receiving money for ads on their websites, apps and YouTube videos.
Microsoft announced Monday that it is removing RT mobile apps from the Windows App store. Reuters reports:
The company said it would not display any state-sponsored RT and Sputnik content, de-rank their search results on Bing and not place any ads from its ad network on those sites.
Canadian cable operators Shaw, Rogers Communications, Tellus and Bell Media dropped Russian state-owned broadcaster RT from their channel line-up in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
