The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law expresses its concern over a wave of content removals and account blockings on social networks affecting non-governmental organizations, independent media outlets, bloggers, and public figures.
The first incidents began to be reported shortly before the announcement of the initiative to adopt a new Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the upcoming referendum; however, even after the vote, the situation remained unchanged. Moreover, both critical materials on sensitive political topics and neutral publications based on official statements are being blocked.
In April, media reports indicated a wave of content removals from their pages following complaints from third parties located abroad. These included the news agency KazTAG, the online publication Respublika, and the Legal Media Center organization, whose Facebook and Instagram accounts were temporarily blocked.
At the same time, the social media function for appealing content removal or account restrictions is ineffective and the review process is excessively lengthy.
Earlier, during the preparation period for the referendum, organizations, media outlets, independent journalists, and public figures also reported content removals or account blockings, including Vadim Boreiko, Lukpan Akhmedyarov, Daniyar Moldabekov, Yulia Kozlova, Masa.media, Tamara Yeslyamova, the newspaper Uralskaya Nedelya, Dinara Yegubaeva, Gulmira Birzhanova, Diana Okremova, the Legal Media Center, Vitaliy Shevchenko, Asem Zhapisheva, KIBHR, Daniyar Murat, Vasily Sadykov, Murat Adam, Elmar Khusainov, and others.
Although complaints are officially reported to originate from abroad, it is evident that the orchestrators of these attacks may be located within Kazakhstan. The removal of content and blocking of accounts fits into a broader pattern that also includes blocking certain websites or individual materials, systematic DDoS attacks on online media servers, and the unjustified broad application of the criminal article on “dissemination of knowingly false information.”
For these and other reasons, Kazakhstan consistently ranks low in global press freedom indexes and is classified among non-free countries in terms of internet freedom.
The KIBHR considers the practice of removing materials and blocking accounts due to critical publications about the government unacceptable and calls on the corporations Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, Google, owner of YouTube, and Telegram FZ, owner of the Telegram messenger, to refrain from removing content or blocking accounts on the grounds of criticism of the authorities. Given the severely limited freedom of speech, these platforms represent the main sources of objective and independent information for the population of the country.
Furthermore, we expect that the leadership of social networks and messaging platforms will reconsider their blocking policies and take into account not only the content itself but also the broader situation regarding freedom of speech and information dissemination in specific countries, in order to prevent abuse.
