After eliminating all media pluralism and imposing a climate of fear in society as a whole, the Azerbaijani government does not feel the need to block all independent news websites. But it does occasionally block on an ad hoc basis, as it did with the sites of the newspaper Azadlig, Meydan TV, Radio Azadlig and Voice of America in late 2016. The authorities were also quick to disconnect all Internet access for two weeks in the village of Nardaran when there was rioting there in November 2015.

As a rule, the authorities keep a close eye on the Internet and harass not only critical bloggers but also members of their families. The well-known blogger Mehman Huseynov was sentenced to two years in prison on 3 March 2017 for describing how he was tortured while arrested two months previously. The authorities keep on reinforcing the legislation governing online defamation but they usually resort to trumped-up charges of drug possession or aggravated assault to jail bloggers and journalists. And they use an army of trolls to combat criticism on online social networks.