Ladder
Ladder: official labels, in Europe
A government officially brands a news outlet or a journalist as a source of disinformation or "fake news", or requires it to register as an agent of another country. Such labels often carry reporting duties and restrictions, and can cost the outlet its audience and advertisers.
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
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2Pressure
Using state power short of prosecution to change coverage: regulatory threats, licence reviews, funding cuts, lawsuits by officials, official "fake news" or "foreign agent" labels, advertising pressure, tax audits.
Russia's parliament passed laws letting courts jail and fine people, including journalists, for posting information the government alone judges to be false, or for statements found to disrespect officials or state symbols online.
Note: Russia's parliament created fines and jail terms for online posts that authorities alone judge false or disrespectful of officials; no enacted United States law imposes jail time for calling an official statement false.
Sustained 7 March 2019 · 3 sources · Full entry
Russia's Justice Ministry labeled the independent news site Meduza and outlet PASMI "foreign agents," a status requiring constant public disclosure, quarterly reports and audits, and carrying up to two years in prison for noncompliance, which Meduza said would destroy its advertising business.
Note: Russia's foreign agent label forced an outlet to mark every article, file quarterly reports and risk two years in prison for lapses, by its own editor's account destroying its advertising business; no United States "fake news" designation carries a legal reporting duty or prison exposure.
Sustained 23 April 2021 · 2 sources · Full entry
A Minsk court declared all output from German broadcaster Deutsche Welle "extremist," alongside a local newspaper and a Russian blogger's videos, making it a crime to produce, store or share the labeled material, as a former correspondent was jailed the same week.
Note: Belarus banned a foreign broadcaster's entire output as extremist material, making it a crime to read or share it, and jailed a former correspondent the same week; no United States "fake news" label makes sharing an outlet's work a crime.
Sustained 9 March 2022 · 2 sources · Full entry
On December 20, 2023, the president of Hungary, Katalin Novák, promulgated the National Sovereignty Protection Act, passed by the National Assembly, Hungary's parliament, during the government of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
Reversed 30 June 2026 · 3 sources · Full entry
On August 4, 2026, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed a law, adopted unanimously by the Russian parliament on July 24, 2026, that allows the authorities to freeze bank accounts, block property and vehicle sales and deny consular services such as passport renewal to Russians in exile wh…
Sustained 4 August 2026 · 3 sources · Full entry
All ladders · Official labels: by country and year · The United States chapter