“The Aivo Peterson case is a clear example of the increasingly Cold War-like attempts in Europe to not only suppress the release, by Russian media outlets, of supposedly ‘pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation’, but to go beyond that and, in true McCarthy style, then commence criminal prosecutions – in his case, on the most serious ‘anti-state’ charges – against individuals who merely endorse or repeat such to-be-suppressed materials. If the case against Peterson is not halted as a matter of urgency, it could open the way to abuse of the new legal instruments that seek to address legitimate concerns with online speech – the OSA in the UK and especially the media bans in the EU – to censor non-violent political speech.”
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