Search: insult and defamation laws, national level
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
10 incidents match this view.
Country: Ecuador, RSF 2026 rank: 125th of 180 Hong Kong, RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180 Hungary, RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180 India, RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180 Russia, RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180 Serbia, RSF 2026 rank: 104th of 180 Spain, RSF 2026 rank: 29th of 180 Tunisia, RSF 2026 rank: 137th of 180 Türkiye, RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180 Zimbabwe, RSF 2026 rank: 124th of 180
Continent: Africa Asia Europe South America
Tactic: Insult and defamation laws (10) Detention and violence (3) Funding and ownership pressure (2) Secrets and espionage laws (1) Shutdowns and blocking (1) Credential control (1) Prior restraint (1)
Stage: Pressure (1) Punish (8) Silence (1)
Outcome: Sustained (3) Reversed (3) Unknown (2) Upheld by a court (1) Ongoing (1)
Level: National (10)
Head of government: Emmerson Mnangagwa Francisco Franco John Lee Kais Saied Narendra Modi Rafael Correa Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Slobodan Milosevic Viktor Orban Vladimir Putin
| Date | Incident | Country | Tactic | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|
| February 10, 2026 | India: one-year prison sentence for the journalist Ravi Nair in a criminal defamation case, February 2026 | India (RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180) | Insult and defamation laws | Narendra Modi | Unknown (February 10, 2026) |
| January 16, 2025 | Tunisia's cybercrime decree pushes jailed-journalist count to highest since 1992 | Tunisia (RSF 2026 rank: 137th of 180) | Insult and defamation laws | Kais Saied | Sustained |
| August 29, 2024 | Hong Kong court convicts Stand News editors of sedition | Hong Kong (RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180) | Insult and defamation laws | John Lee | Upheld by a court (September 26, 2024) |
| November 1, 2023 | Turkish authorities detain three journalists under 'disinformation' law | Türkiye (RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180) | Insult and defamation laws | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | Ongoing |
| July 14, 2023 | Zimbabwe's Patriotic Act criminalizes journalists' contact with foreign governments | Zimbabwe (RSF 2026 rank: 124th of 180) | Secrets and espionage laws | Emmerson Mnangagwa | Sustained (July 14, 2023) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| June 25, 2013 | Ecuador's Organic Communication Law creates a regulator that issues hundreds of sanctions against journalists and outlets | Ecuador (RSF 2026 rank: 125th of 180) | Funding and ownership pressure | Rafael Correa | Reversed (February 20, 2019) |
| 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) |
| 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) |
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