More Blogging, More Arrests

Blogging is growing increasingly popular in RFE/RL’s broadcast region as a means of individual expression and as an alternative platform for delivering the news. But, as more activists discover blogging’s potential, governments have responded by arresting them.

These incidents confirm the findings of a recent Freedom House report on the Internet issued in March. As Internet usage has grown exponentially over recent years, “this greatly expanded access…has been met in most cases with the clear emergence of new and multiple threat to other aspects of internet freedom, particularly restrictions on certain content or heightened prosecution and surveillance of users.”

This page will highlight cases either specific to the RFE/RL broadcast region, our having a direct correlation to issues faced by RFE/RL journalists.