June 24, editor of an online news platform arqument.az Shamshad Agha reports that the platform’s Facebook page was hacked.
The damage was significant Agha told AIW. Around 11,000 page likes were deleted as well as some 12,000 followers. All of the platform’s posts until March were also removed.
The admins were able to restore access to the page since the attack.
Arqument.az website was blocked in August 2018, following a decision issued by Sabail District Court. A few days later, Baku Court of Appeal annulled district court’s decision. However, the website was blocked once again in April 2019 by the Ministry of Communication, Transportation and High Technologies after publishing the story about protests in Jalilabad district. This time, the blocking took place without a court order.
According to the editor, he was informed that unless he removes the reported story, the blocking will remain in place. However, the news platform refused and instead filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Communication, Transportation and High Technologies. After that, the blocking was lifted by the Ministry while the platform’s lawsuit continues.
The website was also subject to cyber attacks following blocking.