Zelensky’s new censorship bill is not what democracy is about
Christopher Tremoglie
Video Embed
Is this what “protecting democracy” looks like?
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill that would permit the Ukrainian government to censor news sites, control the flow of information to the Ukrainian people, and shut down news sites that aren’t “registered as media,” according to multiple reports. The law more resembles the totalitarian actions of the Soviet Union rather than a small country “protecting democracy,” as many on the Left have claimed.
ZELENSKY TELLS RUSSIANS ‘NO ONE WILL EVER FORGIVE YOU’ AFTER NYE STRIKE ON UKRAINE
Additionally, the new law permits Ukraine’s government to control all media. This includes online and print journalism, limiting the information on the nation’s television networks, censoring the internet, social media networks, video platforms such as YouTube, and search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, or Google, various news outlets have claimed.
This law is so oppressive that even the European Union is against it. Earlier this year, the European Federation of Journalists encouraged Ukrainian officials to scrap this bill because it contained “many provisions that are contrary to European values,” according to the Kyiv Independent.
“It proposes to give arbitrary and disproportionate regulatory powers to the national regulator, the National Council on Broadcasting, which would have authority not only over audiovisual media, but also over print and digital media,” the EFJ said.
Other officials in the federation were much more critical. As the Kyiv Independent reported, some claimed the law resembled some of history’s most evil governments.
“The coercive regulation envisaged by the bill and in the hands of a regulator totally controlled by the government is worthy of the worst authoritarian regimes. It must be withdrawn. A state that would apply such provisions simply has no place in the European Union,” Ricardo Gutierrez, general secretary of the federation, said about the then-proposed law earlier this year. “Media regulation should be implemented by a body independent of the government, and its objective should be media independence, not media control.”
The problem is Democrats told Americans that Ukraine needed support and funding because it was “protecting democracy.” Politicians, pundits, and media outlets repeatedly claimed that not defending Ukraine was a danger to democracy worldwide. But now, it is evident that Ukraine’s government is quite different from the warriors for democracy many claimed it to be.
As such, this suggests we should no longer support Ukraine’s efforts. Furthermore, it is evident that Democrats pulled the wool over the country. All of this is a page out of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Supporting Ukraine has transformed from “protecting democracy” from an evil despotic government to “all authoritarian regimes are bad, but some are badder than others.”
Zelensky’s new law goes against the idea of “freedom of the press” — a core component of democracy. It seems to go against the hallmarks of everything the Democrats claimed why Ukraine was worth supporting. Then again, given the revelation of the recent “Twitter Files,” maybe Democrats just wanted to aid another country that suppresses information its citizens receive, which is why they keep sending billions of dollars of taxpayer money.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER