Have any EU court rulings upheld or overturned national bans on RT?

1. The core ruling: EU second‑highest court rejects RT France’s challenge

In July 2022 the European General Court in Luxembourg dismissed RT France’s application to annul the Council’s decision suspending its broadcasting and distribution across the EU, concluding the sanctions were lawful and proportionate because the channel had broadcast pro‑war propaganda that threatened public order and security ^{[1] [2] [3]}. The court relied on what it described as a “concrete, precise and consistent body of evidence” linking RT’s editorial output to disinformation that supported Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, and therefore upheld the Council’s temporary prohibition ^{[2] [6]}.

2. Legal basis and scope: EU unanimity and bloc‑wide effect

The sanctions that the court reviewed were adopted unanimously by the European Council under the EU common foreign and security policy and implemented using the Treaty’s restrictive‑measures mechanism, suspending RT’s broadcasting licences, authorisations and distribution arrangements across all 27 member states — a legal architecture explicitly cited in contemporaneous reporting ^{[5] [7]}. The General Court confirmed that the suspension applied to RT’s authorisation, transmission and distribution across the entire EU, including cable, satellite, websites and apps ^[2].

3. National bans and prior actions: local measures did exist, but the court’s decision concerned the EU measure

Several national regulators and states had already taken steps against RT before the EU’s broad sanctions — for example, Latvia had previously banned multiple RT channels, and individual national debates about whether to act through national media regulators or the EU took place in capitals such as France ^{[4] [8]}. The General Court’s rulings, however, addressed the legality of the EU Council’s collective sanctions rather than adjudicating every national regulator’s prior or parallel actions; the supplied sources do not document an EU court overturning any specific national ban ^{[1] [9]}.

4. Dissenting concerns and practical limits cited in reporting

Press freedom groups and unions raised concerns that banning a news outlet en masse could set troubling precedents for free expression, an argument explicitly reported at the time and voiced by actors such as France’s national journalists union ^{[1] [8]}. Independent monitors also warned that, despite the legal upholding of the ban, RT content continued to circulate through mirror sites and other circumvention techniques — undercutting the practical effectiveness of the prohibition even after the court’s judgment ^{[3] [10]}.

5. What the sources do not show and limits of the record

None of the supplied reporting indicates that an EU court has overturned the EU‑level bans on RT or annulled national bans as a result of an EU judgment; the material instead documents confirmation of the sanctions in European courts and commentary on national regulatory steps and circumvention attempts ^{[2] [9]}. If there are later CJEU decisions, national court rulings, or case law overturning specific national bans after the dates in these articles, those are not included in the provided sources and therefore cannot be asserted here ^[11].

Conclusion

Based on the supplied reporting, EU courts have upheld the EU’s suspension and bans on RT — notably through the European General Court’s dismissal of RT France’s challenge — and there is no evidence in these sources of an EU court overturning national or EU bans on the broadcaster; critics warned about free‑speech implications and practical circumvention but the legal finding in Luxembourg endorsed the Council’s sanctions as lawful and proportionate ^{[1] [2] [3] [10]}.