Online safety & content laws in Azerbaijan (2026)

Azerbaijan scored in the 'Not Free' category in Freedom House's Freedom on the Net 2025 report. The government routinely throttles connections and blocks websites critical of the government, including independent news outlets; scores declined further after courts sentenced journalist Matlab Baghirov to 12 years on fabricated charges.

A presidential decree of November 2025 established the Centralized Information and Digital Analytics System (MİRAS) under the State Security Service, requiring ministries (health, justice, education, customs, internal affairs, etc.) to transfer their databases within six months — targeting full operability by May 2026. Human Rights Watch warned it lacks any judicial-authorization requirement or data-access safeguards.

The Media Law (adopted 30 December 2021, in force 8 February 2022) and the Law on Information, Informatization and Protection of Information together define prohibited online content — including offensive language and 'one-sided' reporting — and impose liability on outlets and platforms. The Media Development Agency may request courts to block non-compliant news sites.

Between November 2023 and May 2025, authorities imprisoned 25 journalists — the majority from online outlets — on fabricated smuggling and extortion charges. In February 2025 an appellate court ordered blocking of Anaxeber.info, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revoked accreditations for VOA, Bloomberg, and BBC Azerbaijani service. Azerbaijan ranked 167th of 180 countries in the RSF 2025 World Press Freedom Index.

President Aliyev signed a decree on 27 February 2026 directing the Cabinet of Ministers to draft legislation within three months introducing age-verification requirements for social media registration by minors, banning mobile devices in schools, and mandating digital-literacy curricula — explicitly modelled on Australian and French approaches.

Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) measurements confirmed ongoing network-level blocking of multiple independent news and civil-society websites in Azerbaijan, corroborating Freedom House findings of state-directed technical censorship beyond mere legal takedown requests.