Total.kz website becomes inaccessible after editorial team refuses to hide article about Kok-Zhailau

On 12 September, the Total.kz website became inaccessible to users of several Kazakhstan-based internet service providers. This happened shortly after the editorial team refused a request from a representative of a government body to temporarily hide an article about the Almaty SuperSki project.

The article, titled “Turn Kok-Zhailau into the Moon? Almaty SuperSki project may violate Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code”, was published on Total.kz on 12 September 2026. It presents expert analysis of the project’s potential impact on the Kok-Zhailau ecosystem, including rare plant and animal species.

According to the editorial team, after the article was published, a representative of a government body contacted Total.kz and asked that the article be “temporarily hidden.” The editorial team refused to remove it or restrict access to it.

Soon afterwards, the website stopped loading on the networks of Kazakhtelecom JSC, Altel, Tele2, Activ and Kcell, while remaining accessible through Beeline. The hosting provider said the problem was unrelated to its cloud infrastructure and was beyond the company’s control.

The International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech “Adil Soz” considers the sequence of these events extremely concerning. The very fact that a government body approached a media outlet with a request to hide a journalistic article requires a transparent legal justification. The restriction of access to the website through several telecommunications operators immediately afterwards raises further questions about possible interference with the dissemination of information of public interest.

The Foundation believes that the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan should publicly explain on what grounds a representative of a government body asked the Total.kz editorial team to hide the article, and should also establish and disclose whether any measures restricting access to the website were applied.

Any interference with the work of the media and the dissemination of journalistic content must be based on clear legal grounds and must not be used as a tool to exert pressure on an editorial team.