{
  "title": "Ladder: shutdowns and blocking, in Europe",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/shutdowns_and_blocking?continent=europe",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "europe"
  },
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "tactic": {
    "slug": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
    "name": "Shutdowns and blocking",
    "definition": "A government cuts internet or mobile telephone service, blocks news websites or social media platforms, or jams radio and television signals, so that audiences cannot receive news and reporters cannot send it out.",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/shutdowns_and_blocking"
  },
  "focal_case": "US",
  "count": 6,
  "stages": [
    {
      "stage": "pressure",
      "name": "Pressure",
      "definition": "Using state power short of prosecution to change coverage: regulatory threats, licence reviews, funding cuts, lawsuits by officials, official \"fake news\" or \"foreign agent\" labels, advertising pressure, tax audits.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "1926-uk-general-strike-newsprint-requisition",
          "title": "United Kingdom: Government requisitions newsprint and restricts rival newspapers during the 1926 General Strike",
          "occurred_on": "1926-05-01",
          "occurred_on_precision": "month",
          "stage": "pressure",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "GB",
          "country_name": "United Kingdom",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 18,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "stanley-baldwin",
          "leader_name": "Stanley Baldwin",
          "what_was_done": "During the general strike called by the Trades Union Congress in May 1926, the British government requisitioned the country's available newsprint for its own newspaper, the British Gazette, and placed a provisional embargo on paper supplies to the Trades Union Congress's British Worker and many oth…",
          "outcome": "ongoing",
          "outcome_on": "1926-05-10",
          "outcome_note": "As of the exchanges recorded in Parliament on May 10, 1926, the newsprint embargo on rival newspapers remained in place while the government's own paper continued publishing with requisitioned supplies.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
          "tactics": [
            "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1926-uk-general-strike-newsprint-requisition"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "stage": "punish",
      "name": "Punish",
      "definition": "Legal or physical action against individual journalists or sources: subpoenas and record seizures, prosecutions, arrests, detention, expulsions, visa denials, assault where a government actor is involved.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "2022-russia-criminalizes-fake-war-reports",
          "title": "Russia criminalizes 'fake' reporting on the military, up to 15 years in prison",
          "occurred_on": "2022-03-04",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "punish",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "RU",
          "country_name": "Russia",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 172,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin",
          "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin",
          "what_was_done": "Russia's parliament passed a law criminalizing the publication of information about the military that contradicts official statements, with penalties up to 15 years in prison, prompting Novaya Gazeta to pull its Ukraine war coverage and the BBC, CNN and other outlets to suspend operations inside Ru…",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": null,
          "outcome_note": "The law remained in force; independent outlets that avoided closure continued operating from outside Russia.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
          "tactics": [
            "insult_and_defamation_laws",
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-criminalizes-fake-war-reports"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "stage": "silence",
      "name": "Silence",
      "definition": "Removing outlets or channels from the public sphere: closures, licence withdrawals, forced sales, blocking and shutdowns, prior restraint, nationalisation.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "1968-czechoslovakia-normalization-censorship",
          "title": "Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia is followed by the return of government press controls",
          "occurred_on": "1968-08-21",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "CZ",
          "country_name": "Czechia",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 11,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 11th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/country-czechia"
          },
          "leader_slug": "alexander-dubcek",
          "leader_name": "Alexander Dubček",
          "what_was_done": "Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20-21, 1968 to end the Prague Spring, a period of liberalization under Alexander Dubček that had included the lifting of press controls.",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "1989-11-01",
          "outcome_note": "Formal press controls in Czechoslovakia ended with the Velvet Revolution of November 1989, which brought down Communist Party rule.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint",
          "tactics": [
            "prior_restraint",
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1968-czechoslovakia-normalization-censorship"
        },
        {
          "slug": "1981-poland-martial-law-press-suspended",
          "title": "Poland's martial law government shuts nearly all newspapers and interns journalists overnight",
          "occurred_on": "1981-12-13",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "PL",
          "country_name": "Poland",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 27,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 27th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "wojciech-jaruzelski",
          "leader_name": "Wojciech Jaruzelski",
          "what_was_done": "On December 13, 1981, General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law in Poland, cutting phone and telex lines, suspending nearly all newspapers, and interning thousands of people, most Solidarity trade union journalists among them, within days.",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "1983-07-22",
          "outcome_note": "Martial law was formally lifted on July 22, 1983, though reduced press controls in Poland continued until the fall of Communist rule in 1989.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
          "tactics": [
            "detention_and_violence",
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1981-poland-martial-law-press-suspended"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2021-belarus-blocks-tutby-arrests-staff",
          "title": "Belarus blocks Tut.by and arrests its editors as 'extremist'",
          "occurred_on": "2021-05-18",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "BY",
          "country_name": "Belarus",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 165,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 165th of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "alexander-lukashenko",
          "leader_name": "Alexander Lukashenko",
          "what_was_done": "Belarusian authorities blocked access to Tut.by, the country's most-read independent news site, searched its offices in three cities and arrested at least eleven staff, including its editor-in-chief, citing alleged media-law violations after the site had already lost its official media status.",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": null,
          "outcome_note": "Tut.by remained blocked and its former staff continued reporting from exile as Zerkalo; the criminal proceedings against staff continued.",
          "ladder_note": null,
          "sources_count": 3,
          "tactic_primary": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
          "tactics": [
            "detention_and_violence",
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-belarus-blocks-tutby-arrests-staff"
        },
        {
          "slug": "2022-russia-blocks-bbc-dw-meduza",
          "title": "Russia: regulator blocks BBC Russian, Deutsche Welle and other outlets",
          "occurred_on": "2022-03-04",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "silence",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "RU",
          "country_name": "Russia",
          "continent": "europe",
          "rsf": {
            "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
            "year": 2026,
            "rank": 172,
            "of": 180,
            "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180",
            "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
          },
          "leader_slug": "vladimir-putin",
          "leader_name": "Vladimir Putin",
          "what_was_done": "Russia's media regulator Roskomnadzor blocked access nationwide to the websites of BBC Russian, Deutsche Welle, Meduza, Voice of America's Russian service and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty within days of invading Ukraine, alongside new prison terms for reporting the regulator called false.",
          "outcome": "sustained",
          "outcome_on": "2022-03-04",
          "outcome_note": "The blocks were not reported as reversed in the sources reviewed.",
          "ladder_note": "Russia's regulator blocked five foreign outlets and two social media platforms nationwide within days of invading Ukraine, alongside fifteen-year prison terms for coverage it called false; the White House ban excluded three outlets from one building, not from the country.",
          "sources_count": 2,
          "tactic_primary": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
          "tactics": [
            "shutdowns_and_blocking"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-blocks-bbc-dw-meduza"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "downloads": {
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    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/shutdowns_and_blocking.json?continent=europe",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/shutdowns_and_blocking.md?continent=europe"
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}