Censorship 2026: How governments worldwide silence journalists

Augustine Passilly is expelled from Ethiopia after reporting on war fears from Tigray. Sohrab Barkat sits in prison in Pakistan because he spoke on YouTube about Kashmir protests. Khaoula Boukrim receives four years in prison in absentia in Tunisia for her independent news site. Three cases, three continents, one week. The Committee to Protect Journalists documents the cases – but the patterns are identical: journalists research in crisis areas, speak with those affected, publish facts. Governments respond with arrest, expulsion, conviction.

Who benefits? Authoritarian governments that want to protect their narratives. In Ethiopia, renewed war in Tigray looms – the expulsion prevents international attention. Pakistan suppresses reports on Kashmir protests to avoid provoking India and its own population. Tunisia uses cybercrime laws against critical voices. China goes even further: the ByteDance chatbot Doubao blocks the English phrase "it's my duty" as a violation of terms of service. Even mathematical descriptions of the Tiananmen date such as "8 squared" or "64 divided by" are censored. The price: information becomes scarce, citizens remain uninformed.

Mainstream media largely remains silent. Why? News agencies report on wars and elections, but journalist persecution is considered a "niche topic". Moreover, large publishers fear reprisals in these countries – correspondent offices could be closed. In China, Western media operates under strict self-censorship to avoid risking accreditations. The new EU asylum reform, which came into force on June 12, 2026, makes it harder for Russian journalists to flee through accelerated procedures and possible deportation to "safe third countries". No major German media outlet explains the consequences for whistleblowers and dissidents.

History repeats itself. The Soviet Union locked up dissidents in psychiatric institutions, Nazi Germany burned books, the Stasi monitored every thought. What's new is the digital dimension: China perfects AI censorship, where algorithms preemptively block any mention of sensitive topics – even in mathematical encryption. The methods are exported: Gabon cut the internet on election day 2023, Pakistan uses cybercrime laws, Tunisia uses Decree Law 54. What used to take weeks now happens in milliseconds. Technology makes censorship more efficient, more invisible, more total.

For ordinary people, this means: your news is filtered. If journalists can no longer report from crisis areas, you won't learn where your tax dollars go, which wars are being prepared, which companies are investing there. Russian acquaintances who fled Putin could be deported through the EU reform – even to countries that could hand them over to Russia. If you post "the wrong thing" on social media, you face laws similar to those in Pakistan or Tunisia. Censorship begins in dictatorships but comes to us as "cybersecurity" and "combating disinformation". Those who remain silent today may not be able to speak tomorrow.