[1] It receives financial support from the European Endowment for Democracy, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Norwegian government, the Fritt Ord foundation, private companies and individuals.

[4][5] Following a dispute regarding their editorial freedom in 2015, the newspaper's staff left BarentsObserver and subsequently launched today's journalist owned paper, The Independent Barents Observer.

[7] In March 2019, The Barents Observer was blocked for readers in Russia after having published an interview with a homosexual Sámi activist describing his suicidal thoughts.

[8][9] A member of the Russian State Duma supported the blocking, saying that the article expressed "degeneration and decay".

[2] In 2022, The Barents Observer was offered a video showing a Norwegian diplomat complaining about a hotel room in Murmansk, using undiplomatic language.