Internet freedom in Belarus keeps deteriorating – Freedom House

October 26, BPN. Internet freedom in Belarus kept deteriorating over the past year, says the Freedom on the Net 2022 report by Freedom House (FH).

The U.S.-based NGO noted that Belarusian authorities continued “an intense campaign to suppress online dissent” in 2022 by blocking independent online media, restricting access to foreign news websites deemed “extremist,” and stepping up arbitrary arrests of journalists, bloggers, online activists, and ordinary people.

“As of May 2022, all major independent media and NGO websites remained blocked, with the exception of Onliner.by,” the FH report stressed. Authorities also blocked access to webpages on monitoring the 2022 constitutional referendum, Ukrainian websites that covered the Russia’s war on well as Russian online resources that do not follow the Kremlin line, the experts said.

FH said that both government agencies as well as public and private Internet service providers are responsible for internet blocking in Belarus, adding that in 2022 authorities passed a number of edicts to increase its efficiency and speed.

“Online journalists are not adequately protected by Belarusian law,” the report concluded. “Impunity for crimes against critical online voices has become the norm in post-2020 Belarus.”