RSF publishes list of enemies of press freedom: Putin, Lukashenko, Elon Musk and Meta
3 November 19:56
The international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published a new list of enemies of press freedom. It includes 34 individuals and organizations that, in the opinion of human rights activists, systematically restrict the work of journalists or affect the independence of the media.
The list is published on the RSF’s official website, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Who is on the list
The organization divided the defendants into several categories: “Politics”, “Security”, “Laws”, “Economy” and “Society”.
- The “Politics ” section includes Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, as well as the leaders of Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Azerbaijan, Iran, Venezuela, and Hungary.
- The “Security” section includes the Israeli Defense Forces, the Chinese Communist Party, the military regimes of Myanmar and Burkina Faso, the Mexican drug cartel Jalisco New Generation, as well as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
- The Laws category includes Roskomnadzor, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as politicians and organizations from Guatemala, India, the United States, Cambodia, and Hong Kong.
- The Economy category includes American companies Alphabet and Meta, investment fund Alden Global Capital, as well as businessmen Bidzina Ivanishvili (Georgia), Vladimir Tabak (Russia), William Ruto (Kenya), and Vincent Bolloré (France).
- The Society section includes Elon Musk (USA), Margarita Simonyan (Russia), Javier Milei (Argentina), Robert Fico (Slovakia), and two organizations from India and Israel.
What RSF says
In a statement, the organization said that these individuals and entities are “exemplary examples of actors who deliberately and particularly seriously undermine press freedom.”
“The ability of the enemies of press freedom to constantly invent new ways to attack editorial offices and journalists is appalling. Some politicians suppress sources of information through censorship and bans, others imprison or kill journalists, manipulate media funding or abuse the law to silence reporters,” said RSF Executive Director Anja Osterhaus.
According to her, the publication of the list aims to publicly name the perpetrators and emphasize that impunity should not be the norm.
“Reporters Without Borders is an international non-governmental organization that defends freedom of speech in the world. RSF regularly publishes the global Press Freedom Index, which assesses the state of the media environment in more than 180 countries.
In its previous reports, the organization has repeatedly pointed to systemic violations of journalists’ rights in Russia, Iran, China and Myanmar.
RSF calls on the international community to increase pressure on governments and companies that hinder the work of independent media. In the coming months, the organization plans to present an updated ranking of freedom of speech for 2025, where these figures can affect the overall index of their countries.
