London: Following the approval of a new law by the Putin government under which disseminating "fake news" may result in a prison sentence of up to 15 years, worldwide media news outlets announced that they would cease reporting in Russia to safeguard their journalists.

The BBC said that it had temporarily ceased reporting in Russia. Both the CBC and Bloomberg News announced that their journalists will be taking a leave of absence. A few other organizations have also deleted the bylines of their Russian-based journalists. CNN and CBS News have announced that they would no longer transmit in Russia.

According to Tim Davie, Director-General of the BBC, the Act "appears to criminalize the process of independent journalism." "We have no choice but to temporarily cease the work of our journalists and their support workers within the next few days."
Previously, Russia had banned access to the websites of many foreign news organizations, including the Voice of America, BBC  and Germany's Deutsche Welle, as well as Twitter and Facebook, for distributing what Russia alleged was information concerning its war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Western countries and tech platforms have blocked the Russian news network RT, accusing it of systematic deception about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Following the European Union's ban on Russian state media, Microsoft, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter are coming down hard on Russian government news channels RT and Sputnik, according to Reuters.
Instead of referring to the conflict in Ukraine as a war, Russian official media referred to it as a special military action. Russia has amended its criminal code to make the dissemination of "false" information a crime punishable by penalties or imprisonment.