Region: Turkmenistan

Since the beginning of 2023, governments around the world are discovering new reasons to disrupt internet access during key national moments.

Dictators are using digital tools to repress and suppress democratic dissent, reinforcing digital authoritarianism. Our latest report looks at what’s happening in the EECA region, and how pro-democracy activists are fighting back against digital dictatorship.

“Digital dictatorship: authoritarian tactics and resistance in Eastern Europe and Central Asia” unpacks the tools of oppression in the region, and explores resistance.

Elections and internet shutdowns are a disaster for democracy. See which countries the #KeepItOn coalition is watching in 2022.

Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition are calling for a complete restoration of the internet across Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan internet shutdowns are extreme. Here’s why the international community must take action to combat the wave of online censorship engulfing Central Asia.

Access recently released a paper by Peter Bourgelais, an Access Tech Fellow, highlighting the growing electronic surveillance in post-Soviet Central Asia and the difficulties of regulating its manufacture and distribution. In Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, Russian-made technologies and companies dominate the market, and techniques that have limited regulatory efficacy elsewhere — such as export controls and public campaigning — are much less effective.