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Deputy Minister of Science and Education Firudin Gurbanov publicly confirmed on October 21 that TikTok is blocked within Azerbaijani school networks. He said the restriction had been in place since at least June 2026, when the deputy minister first announced it—meaning enforcement preceded any public legal announcement by months. More than 200 categories of content […]

In October 2026, at least four individuals were administratively detained specifically for social media posts about Azerbaijan’s school hijab regulations, and two major platforms — Instagram and TikTok — were disrupted for Azerbaijani users on the day of the largest protest. The cases illustrate the direct application of Azerbaijan’s January 2026 social media “immorality” legislation […]

The Guba District Court sentenced a veteran of the Second Karabakh War — a resident of the village of Jack, Quba district — to eight days’ administrative detention under Article 510.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (insulting a law enforcement official). Judge Ibrahim Gazibeyov issued the ruling on 23 September. A police officer testified […]

The International Press Institute (IPI) and the Network of Exiled Media Organizations (NEMO) have condemned a coordinated wave of fake copyright complaints targeting the social media accounts of Azerbaijani independent media outlets in exile, calling on Meta to investigate and restore blocked accounts. IPI described the campaign as “a coordinated wave of fake copyright complaints” […]

The Lankaran Court of Serious Crimes sentenced a Shirvan resident, born in 1997, to three years in prison on charges of illegal possession of psychotropic substances (Article 234.1-1 of the Criminal Code). Judge Javanshir Nabiyev delivered the verdict on September 18. The defendant told the court he did not possess the drugs and that a […]

This entry draws on reporting by Meydan TV and a joint statement issued by eight Azerbaijani media outlets on August 28. In the last week of August, Meta blocked access to the Instagram pages of Abzas Media and Toplum TV, two independent outlets now operating in exile, after a series of copyright-infringement complaints. Days earlier, […]

Eight Azerbaijani independent media organizations operating in exile have issued a joint statement condemning a coordinated wave of fake copyright complaints targeting their social media accounts on Meta platforms. Meta blocked the Instagram accounts of Abzas Media and Toplum TV following the complaints. The Facebook and Instagram pages of Azadliq Gazeti and the Instagram page […]

On July 31, Elmar Piriyev, an activist with the Tovuz district branch of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP), was placed under administrative detention for ten days. According to information the party provided to Meydan TV, the detention followed critical posts he made on social media. Piriyev had been out of contact since July 27. […]

On 10 July 2026, Azerbaijan’s parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Information, Informatization and Information Protection, significantly broadening the executive’s power to block internet resources without prior judicial authorization. What changed Before these amendments, extrajudicial (warrantless) blocking was restricted to genuine emergencies – defined as situations in which state or public interests were under […]

[Update August 2026] Parliament passed the amendments as Law No. 431-VIIQD on June 30, 2026, and on August 5, 2026, President Ilham Aliyev signed an implementing decree in Baku assigning enforcement powers, setting institutional deadlines, and bringing the accompanying sanctions in the Code of Administrative Offenses into effect. The package, first tabled in early June, […]