Online safety & content laws in Armenia (2026)

The Law 'On Cybersecurity' entered into force on 4 January 2026 after parliamentary adoption on 4 December 2025. It mandates risk assessments, ISO 27001 compliance, 72-hour incident reporting, and establishes an independent Information Systems Regulatory Body elected by the National Assembly. Its scope covers critical-infrastructure operators and state systems, not content moderation on consumer platforms.

ISPs and content hosts benefit from a safe-harbour-style shield from liability for third-party illegal content stored or transmitted without their knowledge. Online and digital media operate without sector-specific regulation or a dedicated regulatory authority; the Law on Audiovisual Media does not cover internet-delivered services such as YouTube.

Freedom House's Freedom on the Net 2025 report rates Armenia as 'Free' with a score of 75/100 (down 1 point from 2024 due to temporary gambling-site blocking). The online environment is described as generally open, with limited website blocking and few content-removal orders, though some individuals have faced legal consequences for online criticism and commercial spyware use has been documented.

Amendments to gambling laws that came into force in October 2024 mandate ISP blocking of unlicensed foreign gambling websites; enforcement began February 2025. Beyond gambling, there is no systematic government filtering or blocking of political, social, or news content.

In May 2025 the Ministry of Justice introduced a draft law that would require media outlets to remove content deemed 'slanderous' at the behest of authorities. Prime Minister Pashinyan simultaneously warned media to 'self-regulate' or face government-imposed restrictions. The draft had not been adopted as of mid-2026, and civil-society groups raised freedom-of-expression concerns.

As of 2025-2026 Armenia lacks dedicated child online-safety legislation. UNICEF and government partners are actively developing a legal and policy framework to protect children from cyber-enabled crime and online harm, but no law had been enacted at the time of research.