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Date: 2016-03-11
PrintThe latest cases of blocking of international platforms, such as YouTube and WordPress demonstrated once again that the country necessitates regulations of filtering, blocking and takedown of illegal content. Some crucial aspects should be highlited with regard to the mentioned cases. The entire WordPress platform was blocked for a short period in November 2015, as a response to the release of the threatening videos by pro-Islamic State group. The State Security Service failed to restrict access to a particular content and instead, blocked the entire platform. All websites hosted by WordPress were unblocked after Georgian activists contacted the administrators of WordPress.com through Twitter to resolve this issue. Thereafter, the company corresponded with the Georgian government. GNCC representatives stated that they were not involved in this process. With regards to courts, PR department of Tbilisi City Court could not confirm whether State Security Service of Georgia referred to the court for a request to block suspicious websites. Later, authorities blocked YouTube twice, following the release of video recordings of sexual content depicting Georgian politicians. The first incident lasted for 20 minutes on March 11, 2016, and affected only Caucasus Online users. Three days later, YouTube was inaccessible again for about an hour for users of Caucasus Online and Silknet. Local human rights defenders suspected that the government restricted access through Georgian Internet service providers.