Technological censorship and surveillance

The Iranian government’s decision to restrict access to Instagram and WhatsApp

Revoking the licence of investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta and its new magazine, Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta, symbolises the completion of the Kremlin’s goal of silencing all independent journalism in Russia, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says.

For the past 6 months, independent journalists have been at risk of facing 15 years in prison for covering the activities of Russia’s armed forces . The law adopted on 4 March was just the first in a series of anti-media laws.

Popular TV news channel ARY News has been taken off the air in most Pakistani cities and its news director, Ammad Yousaf, has been arrested.

RSF is concerned for Greek journalists in the wake of the abusive lawsuits that the Greek prime minister’s nephew brought against two media outlets amid tension resulting from the EYP's admission that it spied on journalists and opposition politicians.

RSf welcomes the release of 5 journalists in recent months in Egypt but points out that the entire country is an open prison and that 21 journalists are still jailed, including Alaa Abdel Fattah, who completed his fourth month on hunger strike.

A year after the Pegasus Project revealed that at least 200 journalists had been targeted by NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, the judicial investigation launched in France in response to criminal complaints filed by RSF offers the only possibility of justice.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Russian prosecutor’s office to withdraw the 350-page complaint it has brought against the Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU), which could result in this independent union being disbanded.

On 18 July Reporters Without Borders (RSF) will present its newly founded Digital Security Lab: a digital forensic laboratory created to help counter the threats of online surveillance.