Kyrgyzstan Bans Online Porn, Imposes Control Over Internet Traffic

Bishkek: His office said on Tuesday that Kyrgyzstan banned access to online pornography and applied state control on internet traffic under the new laws signed by President Sadyr Japarov.

Japarov’s office said that the ban on pornography was “to protect moral and ethical values” in Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous Central Asian country of 7 million people who gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Legislation requires internet providers to block websites according to the decisions of the Ministry of Culture. Violators will face fines.

Kyrgyzstan, the most democratic country of Central Asia, has increased pressure on opposition groups and independent media because Japarov, a populist and nationalist, gave a wave of protest in 2020.

He made the protection of what he called traditional Kyrgyz values a center of his agenda.

On Tuesday, Japarov signed a decree imposing a state monopoly on international internet traffic.

Within the scope of the decree, the state’s telecom company Elcat will be the only international internet traffic provider of Kyrgyzstan for a year of trial starting from August 15th.

All other Kyrgyz Telekom operators will be asked to transfer their contracts to Elcat for international bandwidth within two months.

Bishkek -based political analyst Emil Juraev told Reuters: “This decision only contributes to the increasing role of the state at the expense of market freedom in Kyrgyzstan.”

The movement comes to a parliamentary election that must be paid in 2026 and a presidential survey that must be paid in 2027. Japarov, whose allies dominated the Legislative Assembly, said he would run again.