Amazon rejects Russian watchdog’s demand to take down Novy Čas content

May 20, Pozirk. Russia’s Roskomnadzor agency in charge of media censorship has failed to make Amazon remove content by Belarus’ Novy Čas, novychas.online.

Earlier this month, Novy Čas received from Amazon a copy of the complaint submitted by the Russian agency, which argued that access to the website should be restricted if journalists refuse to remove “information disseminated in violation of the law.” Roskomnadzor did not specify any further details.

Novy Čas rejected these accusations as ungrounded, assuring Amazon that its journalists follow US and European laws guaranteeing freedom of speech.

“We will keep working, including by providing accurate and factual information about the war in Ukraine, the human rights situation, political prisoners and resistance to dictatorship and propaganda,” the journalists said. “[We will report on] everything that is important to people who care about the future of Belarus as a free, democratic and independent country.”

Novy Čas, published as a newspaper in Belarus from 2002 to August 2021, is accessible at novychas.online after novychas.by was blocked by the government in October 2021.

Last year, authorities in Minsk blacklisted the project’s website and all affiliated social media pages as extremist content. This designation was introduced in Belarus in the wake of the 2020 mass protests against election fraud to punish Belarusians for following independent media outlets.

Also read: RSF Press Freedom Index ranks Belarus in bottom 15