TV2 of Norway reports that the European Broadcasting Union has formally warned the Israeli broadcaster KAN for breaching the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Green, has confirmed that KAN has been issued a formal warning over a disproportionate advertising campaign ahead of Eurovision 2026. Promotional advertisements in thirteen languages had been distributed, in which Noam Bettan, the Israeli representative, called for the public to use all 10 of their votes to vote for Israel.
Mr Green commented:
“We were made aware that videos instructing people to vote ten times for Israel had been published and released by the artist representing KAN. Within 20 minutes, we had contacted the Israeli delegation and asked them to immediately stop all distribution of the videos and remove them from all platforms where they had been published. They did so”
…a direct call to use the ten votes you have available on one artist or song is also not in line with our rules or the spirit of the competition.
We have sent a formal warning to KAN and will continue to monitor their promotional activities closely and take action if necessary.”
The European Broadcasting Union introduced new rules ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, which “discourage disproportionate promotion campaigns…particularly when undertaken or supported by third parties, including governments or governmental agencies.” This is the first enforcement of the rule.
KAN said in a statement to TV2 that:
“The incident in question comes from the artist’s own initiative, without any form of illegal funding, and is similar to similar advertising by other artists in the competition. Following the EBU’s desire to avoid being asked to vote ten times, the artist has stopped using the videos.”
Eurovision 2026
The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will be held in Vienna following JJ’s victory for Austria with “Wasted Love” in Basel. Both semi-finals are scheduled for May 12 and 14, while the Grand Final will take place on May 16. The contest will be hosted at the Wiener Stadthalle, the same venue used in 2015, which can accommodate up to 16,000 spectators.
Source: TV2
