| August 4, 2026 | Russia: law on asset freezes and service denials for exiled "foreign agents", August 2026 | Russia (RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180) | Official labels | Vladimir Putin | Sustained (August 4, 2026) |
| September 5, 2025 | Serbian police strike, detain and disarm journalists covering anti-government protests | Serbia (RSF 2026 rank: 104th of 180) | Detention and violence | Aleksandar Vucic | Ongoing |
| June 20, 2024 | Slovakia's parliament dissolves public broadcaster RTVS, replaces it with STVR | Slovakia (RSF 2026 rank: 37th of 180) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Robert Fico | Sustained (July 1, 2024) |
| December 20, 2023 | Hungary: National Sovereignty Protection Act and Sovereignty Protection Office, December 2023 | Hungary (RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180) | Official labels | Viktor Orban | Reversed (June 30, 2026) |
| March 4, 2022 | Russia criminalizes 'fake' reporting on the military, up to 15 years in prison | Russia (RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180) | Insult and defamation laws | Vladimir Putin | Sustained |
| May 18, 2021 | Belarus blocks Tut.by and arrests its editors as 'extremist' | Belarus (RSF 2026 rank: 165th of 180) | Shutdowns and blocking | Alexander Lukashenko | Sustained |
| March 30, 2020 | Hungary criminalizes false coronavirus information and grants Orban decree powers | Hungary (RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180) | Insult and defamation laws | Viktor Orban | Unknown |
| December 31, 2015 | Poland's new government gains power to replace public broadcaster leadership, and journalists are dismissed | Poland (RSF 2026 rank: 27th of 180) | Funding and ownership pressure | Beata Szydlo | Sustained (December 31, 2019) |
| August 18, 2013 | United Kingdom detains journalist's partner under terrorism law and oversees destruction of Guardian hard drives holding Snowden files | United Kingdom (RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180) | Surveillance and subpoenas | David Cameron | Upheld by a court (January 19, 2016) |
| December 21, 2010 | Hungary's parliament gives a government-appointed media council power to fine outlets for unbalanced coverage | Hungary (RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180) | Funding and ownership pressure | Viktor Orban | Sustained (January 1, 2011) |
| October 7, 2006 | Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya is shot dead in Moscow; a former police officer is later convicted of organizing the killing | Russia (RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180) | Detention and violence | Vladimir Putin | Upheld by a court (June 9, 2014) |
| April 14, 2001 | State-controlled Gazprom takes formal control of Russia's independent NTV television network | Russia (RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180) | Funding and ownership pressure | Vladimir Putin | Sustained (April 14, 2001) |
| October 20, 1998 | Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger | Serbia (RSF 2026 rank: 104th of 180) | Insult and defamation laws | Slobodan Milosevic | Reversed (January 1, 2001) |
| October 1988 | United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices | United Kingdom (RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180) | Licensing and closure of outlets | Margaret Thatcher | Reversed (September 16, 1994) |
| December 13, 1981 | Poland's martial law government shuts nearly all newspapers and interns journalists overnight | Poland (RSF 2026 rank: 27th of 180) | Shutdowns and blocking | Wojciech Jaruzelski | Reversed (July 22, 1983) |
| August 21, 1968 | Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia is followed by the return of government press press controls | Czechia (RSF 2026 rank: 11th of 180) | Prior restraint | Alexander Dubček | Reversed (November 1, 1989) |
| April 1938 | Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law | Spain (RSF 2026 rank: 29th of 180) | Credential control | Francisco Franco | Reversed (April 1, 1977) |
| October 4, 1933 | Nazi Germany's Editors Law bars Jewish journalists from the press and puts editors under state direction | Germany (RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180) | Credential control | Adolf Hitler | Reversed (May 8, 1945) |
| 1933 | Portugal's Salazar government formally establishes press press controls under a new constitution | Portugal (RSF 2026 rank: 10th of 180) | Prior restraint | António de Oliveira Salazar | Reversed (April 25, 1974) |
| 1922 | Soviet Russia creates Glavlit, a central office to review all printed material before publication | Russia (RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180) | Prior restraint | Vladimir Lenin | Ongoing (January 1, 1989) |