British broadcast regulator Ofcom imposed a large fine on RT over an alleged breach of impartiality rules. Reporting on this story by the UK’s majors met a cold reaction online, with users accusing the British media of bias.
The move to impose the £200,000 fine on RT was announced by the British media watchdog on Friday, a decision based on an Ofcom report issued last December accusing RT of seven instances of breaching British impartiality rules while reporting on highly controversial stories in 2018, such as the Skripal poisoning affair.
RT has filed a legal challenge against the accusations and last month London's High Court allowed the case to proceed, despite Ofcom claiming that RT’s case had no merit.
As the British media reported on the impressive fine, it was met by an angry online crowd, wondering when the watchdog would actually look into the country’s own media – and bleed it dry financially over its alleged bias.
And some even pointed fingers at the not-very-subtle ties between the UK’s media and the country’s state authorities.
Still, a few users managed to dismiss the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the news about RT's fine, blaming it on the Twitter bogey of choice – the elusive Russian bots.
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