Journalist Daniyar Nauryz reports that his Instagram account has been blocked

On 20 August, Instagram blocked the account of Almaty-based journalist and blogger Daniyar Nauryz. He had published content on a wide range of topics, from sports and culture to social and political issues. According to Nauryz, shortly before the account was blocked, he had been actively posting critical commentary on social and political matters, including in the run-up to the Kurultai elections. His last post focused on the use of Arabic and Persian loanwords in the Kazakh language.

According to the account owner, one of the reasons for the restrictions was a copyright complaint. An unknown user registered under the name Daniyar Nauryz claimed rights to a photograph from a 1937 issue of the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper. Nauryz challenged the complaint, arguing that the historical photograph was in the public domain, but Meta rejected his appeal.

Daniyar Nauryz had also previously reported being detained at the Russian border. In December 2019, he was detained while entering Russia on his way to the annual press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Nauryz, he was held at the border for about five hours and his phone was taken from him.