Websites of at least six exiled Belarusian news outlets and one journalists’ association have been targeted since March by
distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks
, which aim to overwhelm websites with floods of internet traffic.
Staff at several of the affected outlets said the increasingly frequent attacks appear to extend a
pattern
of transnational repression linked to coverage of political issues.
The targeted media sites — all effectively banned from operating in Belarus after authorities
labeled
them “extremist” groups — include
Zerkalo
,
Reform.news
,
Nasha Niva
,
Pozirk
,
Mediazona.Belarus
,
Euroradio
, and the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), a trade group exiled since 2021.
For years, Belarus has harassed journalists in exile with
criminal cases in absentia,
opaque investigations, intimidation of their families, and property seizure. At least
21 journalists
remain behind bars in the country, even after
four
were
pardoned
this year.
These repressive tactics are part of an ongoing
crackdown
since
peaceful protests
swept the country in 2020 in response to the disputed re-election of President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994.
While it can be
difficult
to pinpoint those responsible for DDoS attacks, editors and journalists at the outlets targeted in the recent wave told CPJ they believed Belarusian authorities might have sought to squash reporting on particular political topics, including events linked to Belarus’ exiled opposition.
Work disrupted
Zerkalo
For six days in
late April
, DDoS attacks forced staff of independent news portal
Zerkalo
, which was founded by the former team of the
now-defunct
Tut.by, to tighten access to their website. To do this, they used additional verification steps, including Completely Automated Public Turing tests (CAPTCHAs), which are designed to confirm site visit requests are from humans.
“During this time, our technical team’s resourc
… [more]
