The government subjects both independent and foreign media to systematic political intimidation, especially for reporting on the deteriorating economy and human rights abuses.

[7] A state commission was established in August 2014 to evaluate whether media outlets contain "extremist" materials, possible to a ban under a 2007 counter-extremism law.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists said that the real cause was not technical troubles but an attempt to block information about the protests and violations of human rights.

[9] New editions of Komsomolskaya Pravda and Narodnaja Volya were printed in Russia, but the state network of newsstands, "Belsoyuzpechat'", refused to take them for sale.

The government has banned most independent and opposition newspapers from being distributed by the state-owned postal and kiosk systems, forcing the papers to sell directly from their newsrooms and use volunteers to deliver copies, but authorities sometimes harass and arrest the private distributors.

Several opposition media outlets broadcast from nearby countries to provide Belarusians alternative points of view.

Anti-extremism legislation targets independent journalism, including materials deemed contrary to the honour of the President of Belarus.

[20] Estonian ERR journalist Anton Alekseev reported that he was forced to stop making videos of paddy wagons in the centre of Minsk, being threatened by the possibility of arrest.

[25] The Nasha Niva editor-in-chief (also wearing a jacket) disappeared during the night, but he managed to send a SOS-SMS to his wife, meaning that he was arrested.

[28] On August 11, it was reported that the policemen and other government agents forcibly took away memory cards from many journalists covering protests in Minsk and Hrodna and forced them to delete photos or sometimes crushed their cameras (including Tut.by, Nasha Niva and the Associated Press).

[34] Arrested Russian journalist Artyom Vazhenkov was reported to be accused of mass rioting, with a sentence of up to 15 years of prison in Belarus.

[36] Belsat journalist Stanislau Ivashkevich, arrested on August 9 in Minsk while covering the election process, claimed that he was forced to go between the lines of some government troopers who beat everyone with heavy police batons.

Kazakevich was sentenced to 10 days in jail; Lazaraŭ (operator) was released in 8 hours, but all the videos he made were deleted; Matsveeŭ awaited trial as of August 12.

[43] On 1 September, six journalists from Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, Tut.by web portal and BelaPAN news agency who covered the protest rally of students in Minsk were detained, initially to check their documents.

[45] On 18 February 2021, two Belarusian journalists from Polish-based Belsat TV, Katsyaryna Andreeva and Darya Chultsova were sentenced to two years of prison for live coverage of mass protests.

According to Current Time TV, state-run media made false accusations about the activities of journalists and invented evidences of their guilt without any trial.

[58] As of September 9, 2021, chief editors of the Belarusian biggest independent media are detained and face criminal charges: Marina Zolotova (Tut.by), Irina Levshina (BelaPAN) and Jahor Marcinovič (Nasha Niva).

[67]: 4 In 2010 the President issued decree #60 which "provides for registration of all Internet resources, creation of black lists of the web-sites access to which should be blocked, and a number of other restrictive measure".

[70] A new media law that took effect in February 2009 requires domestic and international websites to register with the Information Ministry or be blocked.

In August 2010, the Prosecutor General's Office announced its intention to toughen criminal penalties for the dissemination of slanderous information through the Internet.

Since 2007, Internet cafe owners have been required to keep records of their customers’ identities and the websites they visit, facilitating inspection by the security services.

[3] On January 6, 2012, a law took effect requiring that all commercial websites selling goods or services to Belarusian citizens to be operated from within the country and under a .by domain name.

[7] In March 2014 Beltelecom blocked the Nasha Niva newspaper website – possibly as a test for the upcoming 2015 presidential elections.

[74] On 21 August, 72 or 73 web sites were blocked in Belarus, including several independent news portals (Radio Liberty/Free Europe in Belarus, svaboda.org, by.tribuna.com sport news, euroradio.fm, belsat.eu, gazetaby.com, the-village.me/news and others), electoral sites of Tsepkalo and Babaryko, "Golos" and "Zubr" platforms, spring96.org human rights portal, several VPN services.

[81] On 18 May 2021, the most popular independent news site Tut.by was de facto closed by the government: its Internet domain was blocked, the servers were shut off, the main office was sealed.

[86] On 11 March 2022, GUBOPiK, the Belarusian Main Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime and Corruption, detained Wikipedia editor Mark Bernstein[87] in Minsk.

[88] Pro-government Telegram channels published a video recording of Bernstein's detention and accused him of spreading fake "anti-Russian" information in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on Wikipedia.

[91] In the past few years, many Belarusian musicians and rock bands have been unofficially banned from radio and television, have had their concert licenses revoked, and have had their interviews censored in the media.

[92] Researchers Maya Medich and Lemez Lovas reported in 2006 that "independent music-making in Belarus today is an increasingly difficult and risky enterprise", and that the Belarusian government "puts pressure on ‘unofficial’ musicians - including ‘banning’ from official media and imposing severe restrictions on live performance."

Belarus government policies tend to divide Belarusian musicians into pro-government "official" and pro-democracy "unofficial" camps.