The Azerbaijani government may impose new restrictions on the Internet, the presidential aide on social and political issues Ali Hasanov told pro-government media.
Hasanov alleged that the online media played a “hostile” role in the social protests earlier month.
“In several cases, they wrote about appreciation of the dollar to astronomical levels, the departure of foreign companies from Azerbaijan, the collapse of the investment policy and other things. It was a hostile attitude towards people and the state. Perhaps to avoid such cases, measures will be taken, both legally and practically,” he noted.
“Starting from incidents in the conflict zone to any local event in Azerbaijan, Internet media spread various rumors, biased and even provocative materials. The main source of this is social networking. Unfortunately, online media often replicate such messages without double-checking them, and mislead the public,” Hasanov said.
He cited as examples online media publications about the manat devaluation, reports about “national protests,” and statements of foreign “experts” that Azerbaijan will not be able to get out of current crisis, Turan reported.
