Blocked Websites in Georgia: Legal and Practical Analysis
Tbilisi. On September 12, 2022 IDFI requested public information from the Georgian National Communications Commission (“Communications Commission” or “Commission”) about the addresses to block internet pages sent to internet-providers from 2017 up to date. The analysis covers the period from 2017 to September 26, 2022.
“In this period the Commission sent 65 addresses to providers. Overall, 480 websites were requested to be blocked.
Excluding the websites that could not be checked for one reason or another, the actual rate of website blocking under the Commission’s authority is 55%. Such a rate and the number of cases of avoidance could put the enforcement of this authority of the Commission under question.
On the systematic level it does not appear that the Commission abuses procedural/material shortcomings of the website blocking mechanism. However, there are number of shortcomings, mostly procedural, which show that the current mechanism of website blocking has significant potential of misuse against the freedom of expression”.
Source: idfi.ge
