DISINFO: EU passes whistle-blower protection laws immediately after Assange's arrest
SUMMARY
In an ironic twist, the European Parliament passed a whistle-blower protection law less than a week after Julian Assange was arrested in London.
RESPONSE
The report falsely implies that the adoption of new EU rules on whistleblower protection is specifically linked to recent developments surrounding Julian Assange, hinting at the supposed "irony" of its timing. Given their actual scope and the timeline of their adoption, the rules in question cannot be viewed as a response to Assange's arrest. Discussions around policy-level whistleblower safeguards had been ongoing since at least September 2016, and formed a directive proposal dated April 2018. Furthermore, the RT report does not mention that the system will apply specifically to "persons reporting on breaches of Union law" [p. 1], even though the phrase is contained within the title of the legislative proposal. Had these protections been adopted and implemented earlier, Assange would still be unable to take advantage of them, given that his disclosures concerned US military involvement in Iraq.