This essay concerns the protection of freedom of expression in the EU legal system. The paper aims to identify the limits of, and possible restrictions to, this fundamental right. The paper focuses on the reaction of the European Union to the regime propaganda promoted by several Russian broadcasters to justify the attack on Ukraine. The paper has three aims. First, the paper evaluates whether the limitations on freedom of information, contained in the EU sanctions, represents a novelty in European law regarding human rights. Second, the paper highlights the recent trends in European jurisprudence regarding the protection of freedom of expression (“hate speech” and “fake news”), and considers their interaction with the recent sanctions of the European Council. Finally, the paper addresses whether the EU General Court, called upon to assess the legitimacy of these sanctions, followed the established process to conclude that the compression of freedom of expression is justified.

Self-certification is one of the main tools aimed at administrative simplification and, in particular, at de-bureaucratization of the relationship between the Public Administration and citizens, as it is aimed at reducing the burdens on citizens. Self-certification, which over the years has been the subject of many legislative changes, in Italy has recently been profoundly innovated by the measures adopted following the emergency situation caused by the Coronavirus, which have also extended the scope of application of the principle to relations between private individuals. Despite the many regulatory changes, however, the potential simplification that should result from self-certification is still severely limited in Italy. It will therefore be seen how self-certification – a tool created to relieve the bureaucratic burden on citizens – instead of representing the balance between guarantee, control and simplification, in some case produced new and heavy bureaucratic burdens to the detriment of private individuals, thus totally deviating from the purpose for which the institute itself should be intended.