Belarus has blocked almost every independent news and human rights website since the 2020 protests and bans VPNs, but it mostly leaves big platforms open and punishes people who follow ‘extremist’ channels instead.
Every day we open 67 of the world’s biggest sites and apps from home internet connections in Belarus, and record what’s blocked, since when and how.
10 of 67 testedsites and apps with a confirmed block in Belarus
67 of 67 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Tests are requested on Beltelecom and MTS Belarus home connections. 8 of them on only some networks. 2 more sites turn visitors from Belarus away themselves.
These sites turn visitors from Belarus away themselves: they answer “forbidden” (HTTP 403) or send them to a “not available here” page. That’s the site’s choice, not a block by Belarus.
The Ministry of Information compiles the list of blocked websites, to which any state body can add, and since 2018 amendments to the Media Law it can block outlets without warning or a court order; prosecutors restrict sites too. Providers must check the list every three hours. Only two state companies, Beltelecom and the National Center for Traffic Exchange, may connect Belarus to foreign networks, which lets the government throttle or cut connections at will, and the presidential Operations and Analysis Center oversees providers.
Blocking relies on deep packet inspection, IP filtering and disabled DNS records. Since the disputed August 2020 election it has swept up almost every independent news site, including TUT.by, the most popular, in May 2021, and the outlets that moved abroad, as well as human rights groups, Ukrainian war reporting and foreign broadcasters such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Deutsche Welle. In September 2024 the information minister said more than 14,000 web resources were blocked.
Rather than block whole platforms, the state brands channels, accounts and outlets ‘extremist’. The national list of extremist materials passed 5,200 entries in April 2024, about a third of them on Telegram, and subscribing to, reposting or even liking them is an administrative offence that can bring a fine, community service, up to 15 days in jail or confiscation of the phone. Online donations to banned groups have led to criminal convictions, and running protest Telegram channels to sentences of a decade or more.
Belarus tightened control again in 2025 and 2026. On 10 January 2025 YouTube, Telegram, TikTok, Twitch and Discord were reported blocked while providers cited ‘technical work’, and for the presidential election of 26 January the Operations and Analysis Center had providers restrict access to websites outside the .by domain for three days. In early 2026 courts added BBC Russian Service content and Radio Liberty’s Belarus pages on Threads to the extremist list, and in June investigators said they were stepping up monitoring of Threads and TikTok.
Are VPNs legal in Belarus?
Belarus has legally banned the use of VPNs and Tor since 2015, and it blocks individual services, as in May 2024, when several popular VPN and proxy apps stopped working during an exiled opposition vote that could only be reached through a VPN. Many tools kept working in practice, but anyone found accessing or sharing material on the extremist list through one can be prosecuted.
Key dates
For the presidential election, the Operations and Analysis Center orders providers to restrict access to websites outside the .by domain until 27 January.
YouTube, Telegram, TikTok, Twitch and Discord are reported blocked, while Beltelecom and MTS say they are carrying out technical work.
YouTube is partially blocked for at least 20 minutes during exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s New Year address.
The authorities block TUT.by, then the country’s most popular news site, with 3.3 million daily users.
On presidential election day, the government shuts down the internet nationwide for about 61 hours, until 12 August.
Belarus legally bans the use of VPNs and Tor, the anonymity network.
Get past a block
Blocked in Belarus?
A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so the blocks in Belarus no longer apply. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic.
VPNs are banned in Belarus.
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Obfuscated servers for networks that block VPNs
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Test machines on Beltelecom and MTS Belarus home connections open each site’s homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
Not as a whole. Belarus hasn’t banned Telegram, though it was among the platforms reported blocked on 10 January 2025, when providers cited technical work. Instead the authorities block individual channels, over 3,000 of them, mostly on Telegram, in 2022 alone, and about a third of the national list of extremist materials is Telegram content, which it’s an offence even to subscribe to.
Is YouTube Blocked in Belarus?
Not officially, but it has been cut off briefly: partially for at least 20 minutes on 31 December 2023, during Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s New Year address, and in the reported blocks of 10 January 2025. When YouTube removed several state channels in April 2026, pro-government media demanded a block, but the new information minister said other ways of dealing with big platforms were needed.
Can You Be Punished for Following a Channel in Belarus?
Yes, if it’s on the national list of extremist materials. Subscribing to, reposting, forwarding or liking listed content is an administrative offence that can bring a fine, community service, up to 15 days in jail and confiscation of the phone. Freedom House counted 2,791 such charges in 2023, and Belarusians crossing the border have had their phones searched for listed material.
