Azerbaijani authorities have blocked OC Media, an independent news outlet covering the South Caucasus, nationwide, the outlet states.
OC Media reports that readers first alerted it in early June that access to the website was no longer possible inside Azerbaijan, with a sharp drop in traffic from the country.
The outlet says the restriction comes as Azerbaijan launched a new regulatory body, the “National Cybersecurity Agency” (NCA), which has been granted broad powers over information control.
OC Media notes that the website can still be accessed using VPN services.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Digital Development and Transport, however, claims no restrictions have been imposed on access to the site, OC Media writes.
The report notes that between 2017 and 2019, Azerbaijani authorities blocked access to several international and local media outlets, including Radio Liberty, with some restrictions still in place.
Other affected outlets include Meydan TV, ‘Liberty’, Turan TV and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
OC Media editor-in-chief Robin Fabbro says the move was long expected, “given that the Azerbaijani authorities continue to grow even more intolerant of any information that does not follow the official line,” Fabbro adds.
On June 2, 2026, the Azerbaijani presidential administration published a decree abolishing the “Electronic Security Service” and replacing it with the National Cybersecurity Agency (NCA), which OC Media says has been given broad powers over internet monitoring and censorship.
