Tajikistan Decriminalizes Likes and Other Reactions to Provocative Social Media Posts
Tajik citizens need no longer fear that they will be imprisoned for clicking “like” on social media posts that the Tajik authorities do not like.
Among several laws that Tajik President Emomali Rahmon signed on May 14 was one that decriminalized liking posts on social networks that originate from individuals or organizations the Tajik government considers extremist.
Crackdown on Social Media
In 2018, President Rahmon signed amendments to Article 179 of the Criminal Code, making it a crime to repost, comment favorably on, or like posts that, in the opinion of Tajik authorities, are public calls to commit or justify acts of violence and terrorism. According to that law, those found guilty of liking such posts face up to 15 years in prison. Since the law came into effect, 1,507 Tajik citizens have been imprisoned.
The Tajik authorities often have a broad interpretation of what constitutes public calls to commit or justify serious crimes or acts of terrorism, but it usually boils down to comments that are critical of the Tajik government.
Weeks after the law was passed, Alijon Sharipov, a resident of the Vakhsh district in Tajikistan’s southern Khatlon Region, was sentenced to 9.5 years in prison for reposting a video of an interview with the leader of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, Muhiddin Kabiri. In July 2019, Ibrohim Kosimov from the western Tajik city of Panjakent received the same prison sentence for “pushing ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ on the posts belong[ing] to opposition figures.”
An activist of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan, Rustam Mamajonov, was sentenced to seven years in prison in June 2021 for reposting a video of Sharofiddin Gadoyev, a leader of the banned organization, Group 24. Mamajonov, who was 59 years old at the time, said he did not know how the video appeared on his Facebook page and the repost was a mistake caused by his poor knowledge of how to use the platform.
Tajik political activist Abdullo Shamsiddin was deported from Germany back to Tajikistan in January 2023 and was convicted weeks later in March of sedition and sentenced to seven years in prison. Shamsiddin’s trial was held behind closed doors and it was difficult to obtain details about the case, but apparently, he was convicted for clicking “like” on a social network post, though there is no information about what was in the post.
Shamsiddinov’s case shows the social network use of Tajik citizens who are outside Tajikistan is also being monitored by Tajik authorities.
A Strange Change of Heart
The reasons for the decision to decriminalize “posting a like or other sign on social networks,” as it officially reads in the law Rahmon signed, is unclear.
Certainly, rights groups have called on the Tajik authorities to overturn the decision to criminalize likes, comments, or reposts of what to the Tajik government are undesirable posts on social networks. However, for years Tajikistan’s government has ignored appeals from rights organizations, the United Nations, and individual governments over the Tajik authorities’ rights abuses.
A more likely explanation is fear that the people being sent to prison for liking or reposting material on social networks are being radicalized by genuine extremists or Islamic radicals who are incarcerated in the same prisons. It might have occurred to some Tajik officials that people being imprisoned on dubious charges related to their social network usage could leave prison as hardened criminals.
Whatever the reasons, in October 2024, President Rahmon criticized law enforcement agencies for groundlessly arresting people for likes on social media posts and called for “this practice to end.”
Tajikistan’s parliament finally took up the issue in April this year, passing the legislation that Rahmon signed in May.
Amnestied, Exonerated, or Retrial?
While revoking the law on reactions to social media posts seems to free Tajik citizens from worries about liking or otherwise responding to provocative – in the eyes of the government – posts, there are still more than 1,500 people in Tajik prisons for violating the now revoked law. There is speculation they could be given an amnesty. Others believe they will have to file appeals against their convictions and go through a court process before they can be freed.
No one has spoken about whether their convictions will be annulled, and the records of those convicted would be cleared, meaning they could be released, but their records would still show they had been imprisoned. That could make finding employment difficult in the future.
The issue of compensation for being imprisoned under a law that was later revoked is not even being raised.
While the changes to Article 179 remove criminal liability for likes and reactions on social media, there are still laws on joining or supporting extremist or terrorist groups. The Tajik government often views Tajik opposition parties and movements and religious organizations acting without clear state approval as falling into the categories of extremist or terrorist groups.
Tajik citizens have learned to be careful about what they post on social media networks, and they would be well advised to continue exercising caution despite the official lifting of criminal liability for social media reactions.