Compare: who did what, when: insult and defamation laws

Each row is a tactic and each column a country. A cell lists the dated incidents in which that country's government used that tactic, with the head of government at the time and the outcome. Every incident links to its sources.

10 incidents, 7 tactics, 10 countries.

Tactics by country
Tactic	Ecuador	Hong Kong	Hungary	India	Russia	Serbia	Spain	Tunisia	Türkiye	Zimbabwe
Credential control							April 1938 Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law. Francisco Franco. Reversed. Issue of the day: Franco's Nationalist forces were still fighting Spain's civil war in April 1938 and used the new Press Law to consolidate direct control over which newspapers could exist and who could work as a journalist within them.
Prior restraint							April 1938 Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law. Francisco Franco. Reversed. Issue of the day: Franco's Nationalist forces were still fighting Spain's civil war in April 1938 and used the new Press Law to consolidate direct control over which newspapers could exist and who could work as a journalist within them.
Secrets and espionage laws										July 14, 2023 Zimbabwe's Patriotic Act criminalizes journalists' contact with foreign governments. Emmerson Mnangagwa. Sustained. Issue of the day: The bill passed weeks before Zimbabwe's August 2023 general election, at a time when the government accused foreign-linked civil-society and media figures of working to undermine it ahead of the vote.
Insult and defamation laws	June 25, 2013 Ecuador's Organic Communication Law creates a regulator that issues hundreds of sanctions against journalists and outlets. Rafael Correa. Reversed. Issue of the day: President Correa's long-running public disputes with Ecuadorian media over their coverage of his government, including a separate 2011 libel case against the newspaper El Universo.	August 29, 2024 Hong Kong court convicts Stand News editors of sedition. John Lee. Upheld by a court. Issue of the day: The prosecution centered on opinion pieces and interviews Stand News had published examining Hong Kong's 2019 protests and the 2020 National Security Law, coverage prosecutors said smeared the security law and law enforcement.	March 30, 2020 Hungary criminalizes false coronavirus information and grants Orban decree powers. Viktor Orban. Unknown. Issue of the day: The law was passed as Hungary, like much of Europe, entered its first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020; the government said it needed emergency powers to respond quickly to the pandemic.	February 10, 2026 India: one-year prison sentence for the journalist Ravi Nair in a criminal defamation case, February 2026. Narendra Modi. Unknown	March 4, 2022 Russia criminalizes 'fake' reporting on the military, up to 15 years in prison. Vladimir Putin. Sustained. Issue of the day: The law followed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and was aimed at reporting on the war that differed from the Russian defense ministry's official statements about casualties and military conduct.	October 20, 1998 Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger. Slobodan Milosevic. Reversed. Issue of the day: Independent Serbian media's coverage of NATO's escalating confrontation with Yugoslavia over Kosovo through 1998 and 1999.	April 1938 Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law. Francisco Franco. Reversed. Issue of the day: Franco's Nationalist forces were still fighting Spain's civil war in April 1938 and used the new Press Law to consolidate direct control over which newspapers could exist and who could work as a journalist within them.	January 16, 2025 Tunisia's cybercrime decree pushes jailed-journalist count to highest since 1992. Kais Saied. Sustained. Issue of the day: Decree-Law 54, issued by President Kais Saied in 2022 without a sitting parliament, criminalized spreading what authorities deem "false news" online, and by January 2025 had become the basis for jailing a record number of Tunisian journalists.	November 1, 2023 Turkish authorities detain three journalists under 'disinformation' law. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Ongoing. Issue of the day: Sardan had written about an alleged Turkish intelligence report on judicial corruption, which the government's Center for Combating Disinformation denied existed; Halk TV's Dincer Gokce had reported on people released from prison who were later linked to further crimes.	July 14, 2023 Zimbabwe's Patriotic Act criminalizes journalists' contact with foreign governments. Emmerson Mnangagwa. Sustained. Issue of the day: The bill passed weeks before Zimbabwe's August 2023 general election, at a time when the government accused foreign-linked civil-society and media figures of working to undermine it ahead of the vote.
Funding and ownership pressure	June 25, 2013 Ecuador's Organic Communication Law creates a regulator that issues hundreds of sanctions against journalists and outlets. Rafael Correa. Reversed. Issue of the day: President Correa's long-running public disputes with Ecuadorian media over their coverage of his government, including a separate 2011 libel case against the newspaper El Universo.					October 20, 1998 Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger. Slobodan Milosevic. Reversed. Issue of the day: Independent Serbian media's coverage of NATO's escalating confrontation with Yugoslavia over Kosovo through 1998 and 1999.
Shutdowns and blocking					March 4, 2022 Russia criminalizes 'fake' reporting on the military, up to 15 years in prison. Vladimir Putin. Sustained. Issue of the day: The law followed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and was aimed at reporting on the war that differed from the Russian defense ministry's official statements about casualties and military conduct.
Detention and violence				February 10, 2026 India: one-year prison sentence for the journalist Ravi Nair in a criminal defamation case, February 2026. Narendra Modi. Unknown				January 16, 2025 Tunisia's cybercrime decree pushes jailed-journalist count to highest since 1992. Kais Saied. Sustained. Issue of the day: Decree-Law 54, issued by President Kais Saied in 2022 without a sitting parliament, criminalized spreading what authorities deem "false news" online, and by January 2025 had become the basis for jailing a record number of Tunisian journalists.	November 1, 2023 Turkish authorities detain three journalists under 'disinformation' law. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Ongoing. Issue of the day: Sardan had written about an alleged Turkish intelligence report on judicial corruption, which the government's Center for Combating Disinformation denied existed; Halk TV's Dincer Gokce had reported on people released from prison who were later linked to further crimes.

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