The Belarusian authorities are preparing to block social networks in the country during the so-called presidential elections on January 26. In this way, they are trying to complicate coordination during possible protests.
Points of attention
- The Belarusian authorities are gearing up to block social networks before the presidential elections on January 26 to hinder coordination during potential protests.
- The restrictions on access to information and social media in Belarus highlight the government's attempts to complicate protest coordination leading up to the elections.
- The 2020 Belarus presidential elections, marred by fraud accusations, triggered mass protests against Lukashenko's regime and the subsequent brutal crackdown on protesters.
- The lack of real political competition among candidates in the upcoming Belarusian elections raises concerns about the democratic process and legitimacy of the results.
- The international community's response to the situation in Belarus, including condemning the government's actions and continued support for opposition movements, underscores the global impact of the crisis.
Belarus tried to block social networks
This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
For example, last night, access to the video hosting YouTube was disabled in Belarus for several hours. There are also problems with access to the social networks Discord, Twitch, TikTok, and Telegram.
Similar actions by Belarusian providers may indicate that the authorities are preparing to disable social networks in the country during the presidential elections on January 26. By restricting access to information, the Belarusian authorities are trying to complicate coordination during possible protests.
They recalled that the 2020 presidential elections in Belarus were accompanied by mass protests due to falsification of the results in favor of Alexander Lukashenko.
The EU did not recognize the elections in Belarus as free and fair, and Lukashenko as the legitimate president.
This year, five candidates are registered in the elections in Belarus, but there is no real political competition among them.
Protests in Belarus in 2020-2021
Mass protests in Belarus began after the presidential elections, which took place on August 9, 2020.
At that time, official data declared Lukashenko the "winner" with over 80% of the vote, but a significant part of society and international organizations declared the election fraudulent, accusing the authorities of large-scale violations.
Lukashenko's key opponent was Svitlana Tikhanovskaya, the wife of blogger Serhiy Tikhanovsky, who was under arrest at the time of the election. Due to her husband's inadmissibility from participating in the elections, Svitlana decided to run for office.
The protests were accompanied by brutal actions by law enforcement agencies, who used violence, carried out mass arrests, and tortured detainees. This caused widespread resonance and condemnation from the international community.
It recently became known that the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus has once again registered Alexander Lukashenko as a candidate for the country's presidency, scheduled for January 26.
