At the end of May, the CZ.NIC internet association could stop blocking eight disinformation websites whose domains it made inaccessible on February 25th in connection with the war in Ukraine. They have omitted the reasons for their suspension. To continue blocking, it will require an order from a court, the police, or a competent state authority.
The main objective of this measure at the time of the launch of the aggression of the Russian Federation was to limit the dissemination of false and misleading information in the online space that sought to relativize, justify, or approve of this aggression.
According to the association’s executive director, Ondřej Filip, the intention was to prevent the threat to computer security that occurred through the dissemination of such information via electronic means.
“The CZ.NIC association has declared that this is an extraordinary and unprecedented measure, which will be reviewed every month following the rules of domain name registration. The purpose was to create a time-space for the reaction of the relevant public authorities, not a permanent blockage only by the association’s decision. This is also why the association called on the government of the Czech Republic at the very beginning to adopt systemic measures in the area of prevention and prevention of the spread of misinformation in the online environment,” Filip pointed out.
Aeronet.cz, Protiproud.cz, Ceskobezcenzury.cz, Voxpopuliblog.cz, Prvnizpravy.cz, Czechfreepress.cz, Exanpro.cz, and Skrytapravda.cz were all blocked by CZ.NIC.
In early March, mobile operators blocked cz.sputniknews.com, Cz24.news, Nwoo.org, Slovanskenebe.com, Svobodnenoviny.eu, and Zvedavec.org.