Targeted attacks in the form of copyright complaints, which have led to the removal of independent social media channels, suggest that new and effective methods of suppressing freedom of expression have emerged in Uzbekistan.
These methods have resulted in the suspension and deletion of numerous popular social media accounts belonging to independent media outlets and human rights activists and raise serious questions about the inadequate oversight of copyright claims and community rules on platforms such as Meta and YouTube.
The latest victim is Aleksey Volosovich, editor of AsiaTerra, one of the very few independent media outlets in the country, which previously reported on the issue on February 19, 2026. On April 3, Volosovich was notified that AsiaTerra’s Facebook page had been removed. The message from Facebook read, “We’ve received several complaints that the content on your page violates third parties’ intellectual property rights.” Without investigating who had filed the complaints, their veracity or the context of the environment for free speech and human rights in Uzbekistan, the page with thousands of followers and a vast archive of reporting on issues of social justice, disappeared overnight.
In early April, Meta deleted the Facebook page of prominent human rights defender Abdurakhmon Tashanov, which had 130,000 followers, effectively adding to the sustained pressure he already faces from the authorities. According to Tashanov, he had used Facebook for 20 years purely for professional purposes as a human rights defender and believes that many of his posts did not sit well with authorities. Coordinated troll campaigns filed complaints with Meta, prompting the platform’s administration to delete his page.
Since the beginning of 2026, over two dozen accounts of uzbek activists on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram have been removed for alleged copyright violations. Their reporting ranged from housing rights to environmental harm and the rights of farmers. According to Farida Sharifullina, who heads the community group Tashkent – SNOS with 31,000 followers, and the website Housing Info, these attacks are happening almost on a daily basis.
Sharifullina’s Facebook account was also removed in February, and, following numerous appeals to Meta’s administration, the account was reinstated. However, the problem of Meta’s opaque algorithms remains a serious threat and risks silencing all independent voices in Uzbekistan.
The targeting of activists is also not confined to those living inside Uzbekistan. Prominent Berlin-based journalist Shukhrat Babajanov has also faced an uphill battle to have his Facebook page reinstated after it was reported by multiple email accounts, many of them using fake email addresses, alleging baseless copyright violations.
Recently, Babajanov’s Facebook page was restored after a one-month shutdown, thanks to the intervention of an international organization. However, a case-by-case approach will not address the underlying systemic issue of how Meta handles copyright infringement complaints originating from authoritarian countries.
On March 30, Facebook suspended the account of Uzbek journalist Ulugbek Khaydarov (Ulugbek Ashur), who lives in Canada and hosts the popular YouTube channel ‘Negativ’. Meta suspended the account based on a false complaint, allegedly filed by the UzA, Uzbekistan’s national news agency, again citing copyright infringement.
One of Uzbekistan’s most popular and successful independent media outlets, Eltuz, which operated from Sweden, has been facing persistent attacks including cyber-hacking for the last two years, that have led to the near erasure of its social media channels which had a combined following of millions. Following a large-scale targeted attack alleging copyright violations, all of Eltuz’ social media channels, including Facebook and YouTube were taken down.
Those behind these kind of attacks often create fake email addresses to file complaints, using the names of people, including journalists, least likely to be involved or have reason to claim copyright infringement.
Meta’s moderation and safeguard systems are effectively enabling the digital repression of rights activists. While tech oligarchs such as Mark Zuckerberg claim to be defenders of the right to free speech, they repeatedly fail to take action against accounts disseminating dangerous, extremist or false information yet expose activists to reprisals for exercising that right.
The race to cut costs and over-reliance on AI generated predictive models to safeguard their social media platforms have led to an overly simplified system that exercises no discretion through human intervention and sound judgement. At the same time, the process to restore an account is frustratingly time-consuming and often requires the intervention of a third-party such as a specialized NGO. Those intent on stifling critical voices have seldom had it so easy.
In cases where accounts have been successfully restored, there has been no information shared about what steps Meta and YouTube have taken to address the gaps in their moderation systems that would prevent them from being exploited by malign actors in future. Indeed, these attacks appear to be solely targeted at independent journalists and rights activists, rather than those who may actually be guilty of fraudulent conduct online.
The Uzbek government’s reform agenda has stalled dramatically in the realm of free speech. The much-prized liberalization of the media space that took place during the early years of the Mirziyoyev presidency has been gradually eroded, leaving journalists, bloggers and rights defenders at risk of arbitrary reprisals, harassment and detention.
The government clearly fails to understand that without these voices, international investors in the country, including development banks and textile companies, cannot conduct meaningful due diligence and stakeholder participation. The business community and the diplomatic missions that support and encourage trade and investment with Uzbekistan must impart a message of urgency to their interlocutors in Uzbekistan, that without an uncensored vibrant media space, they are putting the business environment at risk. Indeed, many fashion brands and retailers have stayed away for precisely this reason.
In the meantime, Meta and YouTube must ensure that their safeguards are overseen in a responsible manner that takes context as well as content into consideration before suspending accounts, particularly those coming from authoritarian regimes where freedom of speech is under threat. Furthermore, they should remove the burden of proof from victims of targeted attacks and escalate appeals to ensure swift redress. Importantly, there must be a concerted effort on the part of tech giants to investigate and hold perpetrators to account.
