“Every day we are facing information war attacks. They are targeted at our people, who are being persuaded to mistrust their state, their history and army, as well as Lithuania’s EU and NATO membership. The Constitution stipulates that Lithuanian information space is to be protected. In this war, we cannot stay unarmed,” Grybauskaite said in a statement, published on the president’s website.
The proposed amendments conform to the EU law and envisage penalty charges for war propaganda, as well as calls for regime change and attempts to violate state sovereignty. According to the president’s remarks, the charges may amount up to three percent of the broadcaster’s income.
Under the amendments, any citizen would be able to turn to the responsible authorities, asking to take steps to prevent spread of prohibited information.
The Lithuanian president has already attempted to tighten control over information resources. In October, Grybauskaite proposed to reduce the proportion of Russian-language broadcasting in Lithuania from 30 to 10 percent. However, the Lithuanian parliament found that the draft should be revised as it could potentially infringe freedom of speech.
