Belarus Prosecutor General: Eight online communities declared 'extremist' over LGBT and childfree content
On October 1, 2026, speaking at the 24th meeting of heads of prosecutor general’s offices of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states in Kazan, Russia, Prosecutor General of Belarus Dmitry Gora stated that Belarusian courts granted prosecutors’ petitions to declare eight online communities “extremist.” According to Gora, the targeted resources promoted the LGBT movement and “childfree ideology,” which the prosecutor’s office viewed as a threat to national demographic security, reports Sputnik Belarus .
The prosecutor general did not specify the names of the designated communities or the social networks and platforms where they operated. Gora noted that over the past three years, prosecutorial monitoring of social media identified “numerous instances of promoting ideas of rejecting the institution of family, discrediting motherhood, denying the value of a child’s life, and downplaying the social and medical dangers of abortion.” He added that in 2026 alone, Belarusian prosecutors ordered access restrictions to roughly 1,400 internet resources deemed potentially harmful to minors.
Addressing the forum on safeguarding traditional family values and curbing illicit content among minors, Gora asserted that the family unit is undergoing a “crisis.” He attributed this trend to Western influences, claiming that “freedom of same-sex relations and marriages is broadly promoted, and the cult of childlessness and radical feminism is imposed.” Human rights observers have repeatedly noted that Belarusian authorities apply anti-extremism legislation broadly to suppress independent media and online groups, exposing subscribers and administrators to administrative penalties or criminal prosecution.
Designation as extremist materials in Belarus bans distribution of the content and penalizes individuals for sharing or storing it. Uránia previously reported that Belarus enacted a ban on LGBT propaganda : on June 19, 2026, amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences took effect, establishing fines and administrative detention for disseminating information aimed at portraying homosexuality, gender transition, or childlessness favorably.
