On 1 July 2022, the head of Ukraine’s National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting, Olga Gerasimyuk, announced that a vote could be held to strengthen the powers of the state regulator. If approved, the legislation of mass media would strengthen the regulator’s powers, allowing it to cancel online media outlets’ registrations, issue fines against them, and shut them down, pursuant to court rulings. The government, which is overwhelmingly behind the bill, has said the amendment is essential to help fight Russian propaganda and tackle online news platform spreading disinformation. However, press freedom groups cautioned about passing the law, noting that the expensing the regulator’s powers could expand government control over information. Given Ukraine’s candidate status for the EU, the groups urged the government to draft a reworked media bill in line with EU directives. On July 21, Mykyta Poturaev, the head of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, said the draft law was sent to the European Commission for its recommendations. The original draft law of the law was first brought forward in December 2019.