Latest news and features
Index supports The Shift News in freedom of information battle with the government of Malta
The media outlet had requested details of dealings between government entities and Media Today co-owner Saviour Balzan
Theatre censorship: An index reading list
Index on Censorship has always supported the theatre of resistance, and our Winter 2021 magazine even had this issue as its main theme. In Belarus, for example, organisations such as Belarus Free Theatre are crucial to fighting Lukashenka’s ruthless regime....
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Unwritten chapters: The story of an Afghan girl
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Eight years on from the murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak
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The BBC World Service must be defended not defunded
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Index reports on the breaking of the old order in Europe
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How TikTok and Instagram hook Gen Z
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Kosovo: Media freedom groups demand adequate budget for broadcaster RTK
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Gen Z voices “muffled and contained, if not outright censored”
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How the Ukraine War has split the country’s youth
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Banning social media is a kneejerk reaction that should be resisted
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The Gen Z revolution will be polarised
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Former Pussy Riot member and Uyghur activist say encryption keeps them safe
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Australia cracks down on protest
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Journalists as well as generals have been purged – only Xi is safe in China today
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We must keep fighting for Jimmy Lai
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UK’s Gen Z are increasingly censoring themselves online
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In Iran, funerals are the new battleground
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Award-winning young human rights lawyer unlawfully arrested and jailed in Pakistan
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The US media must stand up to Donald Trump’s assault on its freedom
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Belarus: Andrei Aliaksandrau celebrates his birthday today in a penal colony
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Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine’s freedom message
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Five decades of Iranian protest
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When the saviour becomes the monster: Museveni’s 40-year rule
-
The strange tale of a silenced female Russian rapper
-
Starlink offers a glimmer of hope in the internet darkness
-
How the far right has weaponised free speech
-
Rahima Mahmut: Tell the world what is happening to the Uyghurs
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A tale of two cities in the deplatforming of Jewish and Palestinian speakers
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The secret graffiti grandma of Tehran
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Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan named Tyrant of the Year
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The Far Right is on the rise in 2026…you have been warned
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On the Record: A monument to fallen journalists
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End for the NDAs which protected Harvey Weinstein
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China is punishing online influencers for spreading doom and gloom
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French LGBTQ+ cabaret faces closure due to Instagram bans
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Can Dündar: The Turkish journalist who met his killer
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In Hong Kong, force majeure means political pressure
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A heart full of hope: behind the doors closed to women in Afghanistan
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On the ground in Serbia: Student protests lead to crackdown on human rights
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Discord for Morocco’s football-loving Gen Z as country hosts Africa Cup
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Should the phrase “globalise the intifada” be banned?
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Putin versus Pussy Riot
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Is impartiality possible when it comes to free speech?
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Europe’s real censorship problem isn’t what Trump claims
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Gen Z attitudes: An Index on Censorship survey
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Investigative journalism under threat if government breaks end-to-end encryption
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Jimmy Lai’s guilty verdict is a disgrace
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Meta bans Brazilian left-wing influencers
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How Australia’s social media ban threatens free expression
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Australia’s disproportionate response to online harms
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Who is 2025’s Tyrant of the Year?
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China media giant Tencent gags anti-censorship website FreeWeChat
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Beijing is punishing Japan – and its own young people – by pulling the plug on pop concerts
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Index on Censorship seeks new Development Officer
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The price to be paid for making films in Iran
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MAGA 101: Inside Trump’s fast-track masterclass in undermining academic freedom
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Frank Furedi: The new face of right-wing free speech
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Ukraine: Trump’s peace plan is none of those three things
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Dissidents have started challenging Saudi Arabia and Bahrain through the UK courts
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In memory of Sir Tom Stoppard, a visionary dramatist and fierce champion of free expression
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New report: Breaking encryption is legally and practically unworkable
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Freedom of speech needs freedom of thought
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Israel bans Sudanese activists from protesting outside the UAE embassy in Tel Aviv
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Algeria’s persecution of poet Mohamed Tadjadit must end
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Memes: The new frontier of American propaganda
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Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya among winners of Index on Censorship 2025 Freedom of Expression Awards
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A warning from Hungary – the BBC must stick to its rules and avoid political pressure
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We live beneath a dark roof: what it means to be an Afghan woman today
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India’s police suppress pollution protests
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History is being written by the AI victors
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Is academic freedom at risk in the UK?
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Joint statement demands immediate release of Algerian Hirak poet Mohamed Tadjadit
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The week in free expression 31 October – 7 November
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Breaking norms to survive in war-torn Yemen
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How artist Sai’s exhibition in Thailand was censored after Chinese protests
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Hungary: a severely restricted media environment
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A letter to the Home Secretary on transnational repression in the UK
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The ethics of AI-generated content and who (or what) is responsible
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The dissident family challenging Slovakia’s Robert Fico
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New report: Urgent reform needed on media freedom in Bulgaria
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The week in free expression 24 October – 31 October
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An exceptional editor: a tribute to Judith Vidal-Hall who reinvented Index magazine after the end of the Cold War
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Do the dead have free expression?
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Israeli society is not a monolith
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Remembering Ivan Klíma
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There’s only room for one god in China
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The trauma of being Lukashenka’s prisoner
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The week in free expression 17 October – 24 October
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Police in Islamabad raid the press club in an escalation of Pakistan’s attack on the media
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Reports of Urdu’s death are greatly exaggerated
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North Korea fears the Squid Game effect
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Scotland’s culture wars: the library curation challenge
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Why we need to support Global Encryption Day
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Silence in the valley: The brutal repression of Kashmiri writers
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How a billionaire mogul pushed France’s media to the right
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We’re going on a bear hunt: Spitting Image challenged over Paddington satire
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The week in free expression 10 October – 17 October
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Losing three years of your life to litigation abuse isn’t funny
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The legal system is being weaponised to silence survivors of sexual and gender-based violence
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Madagascar: President flees Gen Z protests but deep problems remain
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With hopes of a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, freedom of expression must be repaired
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Index on Censorship announces 2025 Freedom of Expression awards shortlist
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The week in free expression 3 October – 10 October
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Honour killings and the silencing of women in Pakistan
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Riyadh Comedy Festival: Making the jokes the real comedians can’t
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Banned Books Week: The author writing to stop history repeating itself
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Free speech tested at party conferences
-
Index joins call for robust protections against transnational repression in the higher education sector
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The week in free expression 26 September – 3 October
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Yemeni journalists caught between Israeli airstrikes and authoritarian crackdown
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Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival: nothing to laugh at
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Index on Censorship seeks new Editor
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Jimmy Kimmel: No laughing matter
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The week in free expression 19 September – 26 September
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Bulgaria: Press freedom undermined by political polarisation and delayed reforms
-
The return of Syria’s underground theatre
-
Will artificial intelligence be the death of journalism?
-
Haiti’s violence is so extreme, it’s difficult to face up to it. But we must.
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The week in free expression: 12 September – 19 September 2025
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Freedoms in flames: Trump’s second term in figures
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An un-American story on book bans
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From Nepal, a familiar warning
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The week in free expression: 5 September – 12 September 2025
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Gen Z movement sparks political change in Nepal
-
Charlie Kirk’s murder: Use words to counter speech you don’t like, not bullets
-
What the US closure of global media means for freedom of speech in Asia
-
Tanzania’s election by elimination
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The week in free expression: 29 August – 5 September 2025
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These anti-protest laws are what we expect in Putin’s Russia
-
Malian writer Étienne Fakaba Sissoko forced into exile
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The arrest of Graham Linehan is a cop and ball story
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The rise of the newsfluencer under Donald Trump
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The so-called trial of Jimmy Lai
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The week in free expression: 22 August – 29 August 2025
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The fine line between free speech, protest and terrorism
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Journalists face persecution, intimidation and physical abuse in Somalia
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CCP clamps down on Beijing subway protest songs
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The week in free expression: 16 – 22 August 2025
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TikTok at the frontline of dissent in Nigeria
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The National Library of Scotland: When curation becomes censorship
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Summer festivals grapple with censorship
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What to expect from Trump and Putin’s special relationship
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The week in free expression: 9 August – 15 August 2025
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The Online Safety Act risks making everyone less safe
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Just Stop Oil climate protests feel the chill
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The rise of the American dissident
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Israel’s systematic war on Palestinian journalists is a war on press freedom everywhere
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The week in free expression: 2 – 8 August 2025
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From Hong Kong with hate
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Tackling Transnational Repression in the UK Working Group
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The week in free expression: 26 July – 1 August 2025
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Free expression concerns over Online Safety Act’s age verification requirements
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Zimbabwe: Emmerson Mnangagwa’s online stormtroopers target women who speak out
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How India’s comedians are paying the price for free speech
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Shadow of Gaza conflict hangs over education
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The week in free expression: 19 – 25 July 2025
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Has President Trump launched the age of the American dissident?
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Palestine Action proscription and Afghan data leak test UK’s commitment to free expression
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Attacked on all fronts in the West Bank
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News in India is being erased from the internet
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Afghans at risk on all fronts
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The week in free expression: 12 – 18 July 2025
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Africa’s appetite for coups grows as military leaders strengthen their grip
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Will The Telegraph’s new owners give China media influence in the UK by the back door?
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Environmental defenders facing violent attacks as social media platforms fail to act
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How Iran and Israel control information
-
Kenya’s president takes aim at protesters
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The week in free expression: 5 –11 July 2025
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Banned Books Week UK 2025
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Turkey’s crackdown on cartoonists is no laughing matter
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Ireland’s Defamation (Amendment) Bill fails to protect public interest speech
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The week in free expression: 28 June–4 July 2025
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Turkish arrest warrant against Nedim Türfent condemned
-
Budapest Pride proved that freedom and love cannot be banned
-
The fog of war lifts in Iran
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The week in free expression: 21–27 June 2025
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Death by a thousand cuts in Hong Kong
-
The gravest threat facing Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists so far
-
The world’s “coolest dictator” is ruthlessly opposed to free speech
-
The week in free expression: 14-20 June 2025
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Escaping Afghanistan was painful but staying meant silence – or worse
-
I was once a journalist in Gaza – now I’m a refugee in Egypt
-
Who’s the Boss? Trump and Springsteen’s war of words
-
Georgia: Independent media face increasing repression as new laws come into effect
-
Protest is becoming perilous in the USA
-
The week in free expression: 7–13 June 2025
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The Reckoning: A new play brings Ukrainians’ war stories to life
-
The female TikTokers silenced through murder
-
The week in free expression: 31 May–6 June 2025
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UK journalists face growing personal threats and say media freedom is at risk
-
The threat minorities face in Syria
-
The EU is losing patience with Hungary
-
The week in free expression: 24–30 May 2025
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Afghanistan’s silent healthcare crisis
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On Russia’s naughty list
-
Corruption in Nigeria silences healthcare whistleblowers
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The week in free expression: 17–23 May 2025
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Arrested for criticising Hamas – in London
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How Lukashenka uses healthcare against political prisoners
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Ten years in Saudi prison for a tweet
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The week in free expression: 10–16 May 2025
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Council of Europe report: “Increasingly hostile environment for journalism”
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Free speech is the casualty in Ukraine war
-
Unwritten chapters: The story of an Afghan girl
-
Eight years on from the murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak
-
The BBC World Service must be defended not defunded
-
Index reports on the breaking of the old order in Europe
-
How TikTok and Instagram hook Gen Z
-
Kosovo: Media freedom groups demand adequate budget for broadcaster RTK
-
Gen Z voices “muffled and contained, if not outright censored”
-
How the Ukraine War has split the country’s youth
-
Banning social media is a kneejerk reaction that should be resisted
-
The Gen Z revolution will be polarised
-
Former Pussy Riot member and Uyghur activist say encryption keeps them safe
-
Australia cracks down on protest
-
Journalists as well as generals have been purged – only Xi is safe in China today
-
We must keep fighting for Jimmy Lai
-
UK’s Gen Z are increasingly censoring themselves online
-
In Iran, funerals are the new battleground
-
Award-winning young human rights lawyer unlawfully arrested and jailed in Pakistan
-
The US media must stand up to Donald Trump’s assault on its freedom
-
Belarus: Andrei Aliaksandrau celebrates his birthday today in a penal colony
-
Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine’s freedom message
-
Five decades of Iranian protest
-
When the saviour becomes the monster: Museveni’s 40-year rule
-
The strange tale of a silenced female Russian rapper
-
Starlink offers a glimmer of hope in the internet darkness
-
How the far right has weaponised free speech
-
Rahima Mahmut: Tell the world what is happening to the Uyghurs
-
A tale of two cities in the deplatforming of Jewish and Palestinian speakers
-
The secret graffiti grandma of Tehran
-
Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan named Tyrant of the Year
-
The Far Right is on the rise in 2026…you have been warned
-
On the Record: A monument to fallen journalists
-
End for the NDAs which protected Harvey Weinstein
-
China is punishing online influencers for spreading doom and gloom
-
French LGBTQ+ cabaret faces closure due to Instagram bans
-
Can Dündar: The Turkish journalist who met his killer
-
In Hong Kong, force majeure means political pressure
-
A heart full of hope: behind the doors closed to women in Afghanistan
-
On the ground in Serbia: Student protests lead to crackdown on human rights
-
Discord for Morocco’s football-loving Gen Z as country hosts Africa Cup
-
Should the phrase “globalise the intifada” be banned?
-
Putin versus Pussy Riot
-
Is impartiality possible when it comes to free speech?
-
Europe’s real censorship problem isn’t what Trump claims
-
Gen Z attitudes: An Index on Censorship survey
-
Investigative journalism under threat if government breaks end-to-end encryption
-
Jimmy Lai’s guilty verdict is a disgrace
-
Meta bans Brazilian left-wing influencers
-
How Australia’s social media ban threatens free expression
-
Australia’s disproportionate response to online harms
-
Who is 2025’s Tyrant of the Year?
-
China media giant Tencent gags anti-censorship website FreeWeChat
-
Beijing is punishing Japan – and its own young people – by pulling the plug on pop concerts
-
Index on Censorship seeks new Development Officer
-
The price to be paid for making films in Iran
-
MAGA 101: Inside Trump’s fast-track masterclass in undermining academic freedom
-
Frank Furedi: The new face of right-wing free speech
-
Ukraine: Trump’s peace plan is none of those three things
-
Dissidents have started challenging Saudi Arabia and Bahrain through the UK courts
-
In memory of Sir Tom Stoppard, a visionary dramatist and fierce champion of free expression
-
New report: Breaking encryption is legally and practically unworkable
-
Freedom of speech needs freedom of thought
-
Israel bans Sudanese activists from protesting outside the UAE embassy in Tel Aviv
-
Algeria’s persecution of poet Mohamed Tadjadit must end
-
Memes: The new frontier of American propaganda
-
Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya among winners of Index on Censorship 2025 Freedom of Expression Awards
-
A warning from Hungary – the BBC must stick to its rules and avoid political pressure
-
We live beneath a dark roof: what it means to be an Afghan woman today
-
India’s police suppress pollution protests
-
History is being written by the AI victors
-
Is academic freedom at risk in the UK?
-
Joint statement demands immediate release of Algerian Hirak poet Mohamed Tadjadit
-
The week in free expression 31 October – 7 November
-
Breaking norms to survive in war-torn Yemen
-
How artist Sai’s exhibition in Thailand was censored after Chinese protests
-
Hungary: a severely restricted media environment
-
A letter to the Home Secretary on transnational repression in the UK
-
The ethics of AI-generated content and who (or what) is responsible
-
The dissident family challenging Slovakia’s Robert Fico
-
New report: Urgent reform needed on media freedom in Bulgaria
-
The week in free expression 24 October – 31 October
-
An exceptional editor: a tribute to Judith Vidal-Hall who reinvented Index magazine after the end of the Cold War
-
Do the dead have free expression?
-
Israeli society is not a monolith
-
Remembering Ivan Klíma
-
There’s only room for one god in China
-
The trauma of being Lukashenka’s prisoner
-
The week in free expression 17 October – 24 October
-
Police in Islamabad raid the press club in an escalation of Pakistan’s attack on the media
-
Reports of Urdu’s death are greatly exaggerated
-
North Korea fears the Squid Game effect
-
Scotland’s culture wars: the library curation challenge
-
Why we need to support Global Encryption Day
-
Silence in the valley: The brutal repression of Kashmiri writers
-
How a billionaire mogul pushed France’s media to the right
-
We’re going on a bear hunt: Spitting Image challenged over Paddington satire
-
The week in free expression 10 October – 17 October
-
Losing three years of your life to litigation abuse isn’t funny
-
The legal system is being weaponised to silence survivors of sexual and gender-based violence
-
Madagascar: President flees Gen Z protests but deep problems remain
-
With hopes of a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, freedom of expression must be repaired
-
Index on Censorship announces 2025 Freedom of Expression awards shortlist
-
The week in free expression 3 October – 10 October
-
Honour killings and the silencing of women in Pakistan
-
Riyadh Comedy Festival: Making the jokes the real comedians can’t
-
Banned Books Week: The author writing to stop history repeating itself
-
Free speech tested at party conferences
-
Index joins call for robust protections against transnational repression in the higher education sector
-
The week in free expression 26 September – 3 October
-
Yemeni journalists caught between Israeli airstrikes and authoritarian crackdown
-
Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival: nothing to laugh at
-
Index on Censorship seeks new Editor
-
Jimmy Kimmel: No laughing matter
-
The week in free expression 19 September – 26 September
-
Bulgaria: Press freedom undermined by political polarisation and delayed reforms
-
The return of Syria’s underground theatre
-
Will artificial intelligence be the death of journalism?
-
Haiti’s violence is so extreme, it’s difficult to face up to it. But we must.
-
The week in free expression: 12 September – 19 September 2025
-
Freedoms in flames: Trump’s second term in figures
-
An un-American story on book bans
-
From Nepal, a familiar warning
-
The week in free expression: 5 September – 12 September 2025
-
Gen Z movement sparks political change in Nepal
-
Charlie Kirk’s murder: Use words to counter speech you don’t like, not bullets
-
What the US closure of global media means for freedom of speech in Asia
-
Tanzania’s election by elimination
-
The week in free expression: 29 August – 5 September 2025
-
These anti-protest laws are what we expect in Putin’s Russia
-
Malian writer Étienne Fakaba Sissoko forced into exile
-
The arrest of Graham Linehan is a cop and ball story
-
The rise of the newsfluencer under Donald Trump
-
The so-called trial of Jimmy Lai
-
The week in free expression: 22 August – 29 August 2025
-
The fine line between free speech, protest and terrorism
-
Journalists face persecution, intimidation and physical abuse in Somalia
-
CCP clamps down on Beijing subway protest songs
-
The week in free expression: 16 – 22 August 2025
-
TikTok at the frontline of dissent in Nigeria
-
The National Library of Scotland: When curation becomes censorship
-
Summer festivals grapple with censorship
-
What to expect from Trump and Putin’s special relationship
-
The week in free expression: 9 August – 15 August 2025
-
The Online Safety Act risks making everyone less safe
-
Just Stop Oil climate protests feel the chill
-
The rise of the American dissident
-
Israel’s systematic war on Palestinian journalists is a war on press freedom everywhere
-
The week in free expression: 2 – 8 August 2025
-
From Hong Kong with hate
-
Tackling Transnational Repression in the UK Working Group
-
The week in free expression: 26 July – 1 August 2025
-
Free expression concerns over Online Safety Act’s age verification requirements
-
Zimbabwe: Emmerson Mnangagwa’s online stormtroopers target women who speak out
-
How India’s comedians are paying the price for free speech
-
Shadow of Gaza conflict hangs over education
-
The week in free expression: 19 – 25 July 2025
-
Has President Trump launched the age of the American dissident?
-
Palestine Action proscription and Afghan data leak test UK’s commitment to free expression
-
Attacked on all fronts in the West Bank
-
News in India is being erased from the internet
-
Afghans at risk on all fronts
-
The week in free expression: 12 – 18 July 2025
-
Africa’s appetite for coups grows as military leaders strengthen their grip
-
Will The Telegraph’s new owners give China media influence in the UK by the back door?
-
Environmental defenders facing violent attacks as social media platforms fail to act
-
How Iran and Israel control information
-
Kenya’s president takes aim at protesters
-
The week in free expression: 5 –11 July 2025
-
Banned Books Week UK 2025
-
Turkey’s crackdown on cartoonists is no laughing matter
-
Ireland’s Defamation (Amendment) Bill fails to protect public interest speech
-
The week in free expression: 28 June–4 July 2025
-
Turkish arrest warrant against Nedim Türfent condemned
-
Budapest Pride proved that freedom and love cannot be banned
-
The fog of war lifts in Iran
-
The week in free expression: 21–27 June 2025
-
Death by a thousand cuts in Hong Kong
-
The gravest threat facing Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists so far
-
The world’s “coolest dictator” is ruthlessly opposed to free speech
-
The week in free expression: 14-20 June 2025
-
Escaping Afghanistan was painful but staying meant silence – or worse
-
I was once a journalist in Gaza – now I’m a refugee in Egypt
-
Who’s the Boss? Trump and Springsteen’s war of words
-
Georgia: Independent media face increasing repression as new laws come into effect
-
Protest is becoming perilous in the USA
-
The week in free expression: 7–13 June 2025
-
The Reckoning: A new play brings Ukrainians’ war stories to life
-
The female TikTokers silenced through murder
-
The week in free expression: 31 May–6 June 2025
-
UK journalists face growing personal threats and say media freedom is at risk
-
The threat minorities face in Syria
-
The EU is losing patience with Hungary
-
The week in free expression: 24–30 May 2025
-
Afghanistan’s silent healthcare crisis
-
On Russia’s naughty list
-
Corruption in Nigeria silences healthcare whistleblowers
-
The week in free expression: 17–23 May 2025
-
Arrested for criticising Hamas – in London
-
How Lukashenka uses healthcare against political prisoners
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