Tactic
Licensing and closure of outlets
A government requires newspapers, broadcasters or news websites to register or to hold a licence, and uses that power to refuse, suspend or cancel it, or to close the outlet. Broadcast licences, which governments issue because radio and television frequencies are limited, are a common lever.
The earliest incident in the record using this tactic is dated 9 March 1913.
The ladder for licensing and closure of outlets: where this tactic has led, stage by stage
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
Incidents by country and year
Argentina, RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 1951 | Argentina: President Juan Perón's government hands the expropriated newspaper La Prensa to the CGT labor federation, October 1951 | Silence | Juan Perón | Sustained (1 October 1951) |
| 4 March 2024 | Milei's government shuts down Argentina's state news agency Telam | Silence | Javier Milei | Sustained |
Brazil, RSF 2026 rank: 52nd of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Brazil's Vargas government creates a state messaging department with broad press powers | Silence | Getúlio Vargas | Reversed (1 January 1945) |
Cambodia, RSF 2026 rank: 151st of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2017 | Cambodia's government forces the closure of The Cambodia Daily with a disputed multimillion-dollar tax bill | Silence | Hun Sen | Sustained (4 September 2017) |
| 13 February 2023 | Cambodia: Prime Minister Hun Sen orders Voice of Democracy's license revoked over one article | Silence | Hun Sen | Sustained (13 February 2023) |
Canada, RSF 2026 rank: 20th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 1939 | Canada: War Measures Act regulations authorize review of hundreds of newspapers and ban political organizations | Silence | William Lyon Mackenzie King | Sustained (31 December 1945) |
Egypt, RSF 2026 rank: 169th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 May 1960 | Egypt's Nasser government nationalizes every newspaper and magazine in the country | Silence | Gamal Abdel Nasser | Ongoing (1 January 1989) |
Ethiopia, RSF 2026 rank: 148th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2025 | Ethiopia arrests at least six journalists including Sheger FM staff over election-year coverage | Punish | Abiy Ahmed | Ongoing (22 September 2025) |
Germany, RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 February 1933 | Germany: Reichstag Fire Decree suspends freedom of the press, February 1933 | Silence | Adolf Hitler | Sustained (1 May 1945) |
| 4 October 1933 | Nazi Germany's Editors Law bars Jewish journalists, 1933 | Silence | Adolf Hitler | Reversed (8 May 1945) |
Greece, RSF rank: not recorded
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 May 1941 | Greece: collaborationist government creates a Directorate-General for Press and Radio to review films and publications before release | Silence | Georgios Tsolakoglou | Sustained |
Hong Kong, RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 June 2021 | China (Hong Kong): Apple Daily closes after its assets are frozen under the national security law | Silence | Carrie Lam | Sustained (24 June 2021) |
| 15 December 2025 | China (Hong Kong): conviction and 20-year sentence of the media owner Jimmy Lai under the National Security Law, 2025 to 2026 | Eliminate | John Lee | Sustained (8 February 2026) |
Hungary, RSF 2026 rank: 74th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 December 2010 | Hungary's parliament gives a government-appointed media council power to fine outlets for unbalanced coverage | Pressure | Viktor Orban | Sustained (1 January 2011) |
| 14 February 2021 | Hungary: Klubradio loses its terrestrial broadcast license over its tender application | Silence | Viktor Orban | Upheld by a court (1 September 2021) |
India, RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 June 1975 | India imposes pre-press controls on every newspaper during the 1975 Emergency | Silence | Indira Gandhi | Reversed (21 March 1977) |
Indonesia, RSF rank: not recorded
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | Dutch East Indies: Colonial authorities end publication of the communist newspaper Mawa under Penal Code Article 153 bis, 1926 | Silence | Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff | Sustained (1 January 1926) |
Malaysia, RSF 2026 rank: 95th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Malaysia: Printing Presses and Publications Act amended to bar court review of publishing permits, 1987 | Silence | Mahathir Mohamad | Sustained |
Myanmar, RSF 2026 rank: 166th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 March 2021 | Myanmar junta revokes five outlets' licenses and raids newsrooms after coup | Silence | Min Aung Hlaing | Sustained |
Pakistan, RSF 2026 rank: 153rd of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 January 2025 | Pakistan amends cybercrime law to create new agency policing 'fake' online content | Punish | Shehbaz Sharif | Sustained |
Peru, RSF rank: not recorded
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1997 | Peru strips television station owner Baruch Ivcher of his citizenship after critical reporting | Pressure | Alberto Fujimori | Sustained |
Russia, RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | Glavlit created: Soviet censorship office, 1922 | Silence | Vladimir Lenin | Ongoing (1 January 1989) |
| 14 April 2001 | State-controlled Gazprom takes formal control of Russia's independent NTV television network | Silence | Vladimir Putin | Sustained (14 April 2001) |
| 5 September 2022 | Russia: a Moscow court suspends Novaya Gazeta's print license | Silence | Vladimir Putin | Sustained (5 September 2022) |
Slovakia, RSF 2026 rank: 37th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 June 2024 | Slovakia's parliament dissolves public broadcaster RTVS, replaces it with STVR | Pressure | Robert Fico | Sustained (1 July 2024) |
South Africa, RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 July 1950 | South Africa's Suppression of Communism Act lets the government ban publications and restrict individuals | Silence | Daniel François Malan | Reversed (31 July 1991) |
| 19 October 1977 | South Africa bans The World and Weekend World newspapers and detains editor Percy Qoboza | Silence | Balthazar Johannes Vorster | Sustained (1 March 1978) |
South Korea, RSF 2026 rank: 47th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 July 1980 | South Korea's martial-law government purges journalists who resisted press controls | Silence | Chun Doo-hwan | Reversed (1 June 1987) |
Tanzania, RSF 2026 rank: 117th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 March 2018 | Tanzania requires bloggers and online publishers to register and pay an annual government fee | Pressure | John Magufuli | Unknown (12 April 2018) |
Türkiye, RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 March 1913 | Ottoman Empire bars lawmakers and officials from editing newspapers and jails a leading editor | Silence | Mehmed V | Sustained (9 March 1913) |
| 27 July 2016 | Turkey closes more than 100 media outlets by decree after a failed coup attempt | Silence | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | Sustained (31 December 2016) |
United Kingdom, RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 1988 | United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices | Silence | Margaret Thatcher | Reversed (16 September 1994) |
United States, RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 September 2025 | United States: Federal Communications Commission chairman's remarks and the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, September 2025 | Pressure | Donald Trump | Reversed (23 September 2025) |
Venezuela, RSF 2026 rank: 159th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 May 2007 | Venezuela: the government declines to renew RCTV's broadcast concession | Silence | Hugo Chavez | Sustained (8 September 2015) |
Zimbabwe, RSF 2026 rank: 124th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 March 2002 | Zimbabwe enacts a law requiring all journalists and media houses to hold government licenses | Pressure | Robert Mugabe | Unknown |
| 12 September 2003 | Zimbabwe: police close the Daily News under the media registration law | Silence | Robert Mugabe | Reversed (27 May 2010) |