EU media law allows journalists to be detained or intercepted if "justified" by "public interest"

The European Union fully enacted a regulation that allows journalists to be detained, penalized, intercepted, or inspected due to “an overriding reason of public interest.”

On August 8, the EU fully implemented the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which is purportedly designed to “protect media pluralism and independence in the EU,” and will now be enforced in all 27 member states.

The Act first gives the impression of protecting journalism outfits from state interference, stating that no EU state shall “detain, sanction, intercept or inspect media service providers or their editorial staff or subject them … to surveillance or search and seizure for the purpose of … identifying journalistic sources or confidential communications.”

However, it then states that EU countries may carry out any of these actions — including detain, penalize, intercept or inspect a media provider and staff — provided that it is legal according to national or EU law and is “justified on a case-by-case basis by an overriding reason of public interest and is proportionate.”

Such “overriding reason of public interest” is also cited as a suitable reason to use “intrusive surveillance software.” As Apollo News noted, the EU arrest warrant regulation includes “racism and xenophobia” as crimes that may be investigated with the use of spying technology.

Norwegian journalist Rebecca Mistereggen has highlighted the fact that the EU already ranks and prioritizes what it calls “trusted media” from which it excludes so-called “disinformation” spreaders. These are all defined according to EU ideology. For example, the EU’s 2025 Rule of Law Report criticizes conservative-leaning Hungary for “state media control” and “press freedom violations,” whereas it praises the state-owned media outlets of Norway, Sweden, and Germany.

“Why? Because they push the correct narrative: pro-EU, pro-migration, pro-climate, anti-nationalism,” Mistereggen wrote on X. “With DSA (Digital Services Act) & EMFA, the EU itself is building an ideological Ministry of Truth.”

The EU’s Digital Services Act warns against what it calls Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI), raising concerns about censorship and suppression of narratives it deems “misinformation,” no matter their actual legitimacy...

In Germany, citizens have recently been arrested for posting speech deemed false or “hateful,” such as “racist” cartoons or “fake quotes.” “Malicious gossip” and “insults” are also deemed hate speech. Those found breaking these speech laws usually face steep fines and sometimes lose their personal devices, including cell phones and laptops. Repeat offenders are threatened with jail time.

In the UK, a Cambridge professor was recently arrested for speaking out against Israel’s war in Gaza, reports from the UK said.

“Keir Starmer’s long and intensifying war on pro-Palestine, anti-genocide speech through the misuse of the Terrorism Act … has continued to escalate,” noted UK outlet Skwawkbox, which covers stories such as this – neglected by the mainstream press “because it doesn’t fit their agenda.”

Professor Makram Khoury-Machool, whose speech was criminalized under anti-terror laws, had in the past co-founded an anti-extremism institute in 2016 at Cambridge University.

Police in the UK have also sent five officers to arrest a man for posting a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) flag swastika on social media and visited the home of a women’s rights campaigner for “being untoward about pedophiles” in a YouTube video. Comically, Surrey Police had also visited the home of a parish councilor to warn him that he could be arrested for posting an image on Facebook that said “trans rights are very, very boring.”