Influential IT news website down in Belarus

February 12, Pozirk. Users in Belarus can no longer access the DEV website, the IT news outlet said on Telegram.

“A notification tells them that it has been blocked by decision of the Ministry of Information,” it said. “We have contacted the ministry to find out the reason. Waiting.”

Minsk can block sites for linking to sources from the “extremist content” list, it added. However, devby.io is not on the list. The editors carry on with their work.

DEV has been around since 2008, focusing on the Belarusian IT industry.

“It was a success story for a long time, but since 2020 the industry has been in dire straits because of the political crisis in Belarus, and even more so because of the war in Ukraine,” it said.

“In this situation, we honestly cover people and companies that try to survive in Belarus and abroad, and help them keep in touch with each other.”

The media outlet is run by 20 people in several countries, not counting the “management, back office, and IT specialists.”

In 2023, the website announced that its monthly audience was 750,000 visitors.

DEV is owned by Arciom Kancavy and Viktar Prakapienia’s company VP Capital, which invested in the business in 2017.

The editors say they are independent of the founders and investors and act in the interests of their readers and the IT sector, not specific companies.