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The internet is a haven for journalism in countries where press freedom is endangered. Exiled outlets report from abroad, beyond the reach of domestic regulators and press laws. But no space is truly safe: in recent years autocracies have innovated to promote their agendas online, exploit social media algorithms, and block critical media.
Russia’s parliament unanimously passed a law targeting exiled critics, including “foreign agents,” with frozen bank accounts, revoked driving licenses, and denied consular services like passport renewal. RSF warns the Kremlin is extending repression beyond its borders to silence independent journalism abroad.
Since Russians invasian in 2022 many journalists emigrated to keep independently reporting about the war to Russians, many outlets have launched English-language versions of their publications in order to find new revenue streams to support their work, as the Russian authorities have introduced increasingly restrictive legal measures targeting support for independent media.
Nicaraguan journalists who sought refuge in Costa Rica say they are facing surveillance and intimidation linked to the Ortega regime. The reports suggest that repression extends beyond Nicaragua’s borders, undermining Costa Rica’s role as a safe haven and exposing the growing risks of transnational repression for journalists who continue reporting from exile.
Nicaraguan independent outlet CONFIDENCIAL marks three decades of investigative journalism under growing repression. Founder and editor Carlos F. Chamorro reflects on newsroom raids, forced exile and the transformation of the outlet into a transnational newsroom. The story shows how exiled journalists adapt their work, maintain audience trust and continue reporting despite censorship.
A coalition of human rights organizations warns that Vietnamese authorities are expanding repression beyond national borders, targeting journalists and critics living in Thailand. The cases of exiled journalists Truong Duy Nhat and Duong Van Thai highlight the risks faced by independent reporters abroad, including surveillance, intimidation, detention and threats of forced return.
Exiled Azerbaijani media outlets Meydan TV and AbzasMedia have won the 2026 Free Media Pioneer Award, a recognition presented by the International Press Institute (IPI) and International Media Support (IMS) to organizations advancing independent journalism and the free flow of information. The award comes at a time of unprecedented pressure on independent media in Azerbaijan.
Information control has long been central to the Kremlin. Since Vladimir Putin took power, independent journalism has faced growing repression, accelerated after the Kursk submarine disaster (2000), the Moscow theater siege (2002), and the Beslan school hostage crisis (2004). Critical outlets were punished, steadily eroding Russia’s independent media.
Despite its persistently strong domestic record on press freedom and status as a global frontrunner in fostering free media, Finland comes up short in providing support for exiled journalists at home or abroad in recent years, according to the findings of a new report commissioned by eight Finnish freedom of expression organisations, including the IPI Finland National Committee.
A group of Hong Kong journalists forced into exile has launched Pulse HK, an independent online media outlet publishing in Chinese. The platform aims to fill the void left by the forced shutdown of independent Hong Kong media outlets, including Apple Daily five years ago. RSF spoke with Shirley Leung, co-founder of the platform.
Operating from exile in New York City, Masoumeh Alinejad-Ghomikolayi has transformed her personal rebellion against the Islamic Republic’s strict dress codes into a global human rights phenomenon. Through her prime-time television program “Tablet” on the VOA Persian network, Alinejad has become a central node in the resistance against compulsory hijab laws in Iran
In January 2023, Johnn Williams Ntwali, an investigative independent journalist, died in an incident that the police described as a car accident. Colleagues and advocates for press freedom have questioned the circumstances of his death and pointed to the tightening of the state’s “invisible red lines” as well as the warning signs that had become increasingly clear by 2022.
The International Center for Journalists has named Cuban exiled journalist and El Toque co-founder José J. Nieves a recipient of its 2026 Knight International Journalism Award. Forced to leave Cuba in 2022, Nieves has continued reporting on the island from abroad, documenting repression and amplifying voices silenced at home.
Exile journalists in Europe are not safe from their authoritarian countries of origin: dictatorships persecute, threaten media workers critical of the regime beyond their own borders, even in states that are supposed to offer them protection. The EP adopted a resolution on transnational repression in the plenary on Tuesday, to which RSF contributed civil society expertise.
Today, the IPI and IMS are proud to announce this year’s recipients of the World Press Freedom Hero and Free Media Pioneer awards, who together demonstrate remarkable courage, ingenuity, and resilience amid an increasingly challenging environment for press freedom and independent journalism around the world.
RSF welcomes the court ruling on 10 June in the trial concerning the attempted assassination of Azerbaijani blogger Mahammad Mirzali. By handing down sentences of up to 30 years in prison, the French justice system has sent a clear message: transnational repression carried out by authoritarian regimes on European soil will not go unpunished.
Journalists who have fled authoritarian regimes and sought refuge in Germany are not automatically safe there either: an Egyptian journalist is attacked on a public street in Germany by a fellow Egyptian. A Russian reporter in Berlin is believed to have been the target of a poisoning attack. The family of an Iranian journalist is threatened because of his work in exile.
Transnational repression doesn’t just work through direct attacks. It also works by slowly making your life more complicated. By wearing you down. By forcing you to be constantly on guard. By making you perceive even everyday situations differently. An unknown caller. A message. Someone who suddenly asks too many questions.