IPI: Accounts of independent media outlets in Azerbaijan are being shut down through fake copyright complaints

The International Press Institute (IPI) has released an investigation into the shutting down of social media accounts of independent media outlets in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Somalia on the basis of fake copyright complaints. The report, published on November 5 and written by Silva Virtanen, states that fake copyright complaints have become a cheap and fast censorship tool used to restrict independent journalism around the world.

According to IPI, people using this method send complaints to social media platforms about media outlets' content. The platforms often remove the content or block the accounts without examining whether the complaints are justified. In such cases, it takes media outlets weeks, and sometimes months, to have their accounts restored.

The investigation gives particular attention to the shutdown of Abzas Media's Instagram account in August 2026. It states that between August 22 and 25, four copyright complaints were filed over Abzas Media's posts, three of them from the same email address. Although the fourth complaint was sent from a different address, the complainant's name was the same as in one of the earlier complaints. The account remained closed for three days and was restored only after Access Now, an organisation working to defend digital rights, appealed directly to Meta.

Abzas Media editor-in-chief Gunel Safarova told IPI that at least four media outlets – Hamam Times, Meydan TV, Toplum TV and the Azadliq newspaper – had also confirmed receiving fake copyright complaints, and that most of these complaints used the same or similar names and email addresses. “We call these attacks coordinated, because the same people file complaints against the main media outlets operating in exile, through the same email addresses,” Safarova said. According to her, Toplum TV staff had to wait 14 days for their accounts to be restored, while the Facebook page of the Azadliq newspaper remained closed for months.

The investigation also says that the YouTube account of Studio Monitor, an independent investigative media outlet in Georgia, was shut down in July 2026, and that roughly 20 years of its investigative journalism archive became inaccessible at once. According to the outlet's journalist Marika Duduniya, one of the complainants admitted to having filed the complaint on commission and asked for 380 dollars to withdraw it; the journalist rejected the offer.

IPI notes that similar attacks against several media outlets in the same country were also recorded in Albania, Cyprus and Malta in 2026; in Cyprus, seven media outlets were targeted at the same time.

Abzas Media is among the independent media outlets facing persecution in Azerbaijan: in June 2025, a Baku court sentenced its staff to prison terms of between 7.5 and 9 years. On November 6, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the placement of jailed journalist Ulvi Hasanli in a punishment cell.