Armenia

[AM] Parliament approves bill to restrict the spread of harmful audiovisual information

IRIS 2026-3:1/2

Andrei Richter

Comenius University (Bratislava)

On 13 February 2026, the National Assembly (parliament) of Armenia approved, in the first reading, a bill to restrict the spread of harmful audiovisual information affecting citizens, and to prevent dissemination of disinformation or promotion of violence and hate speech. The support for the bill to amend the relevant provisions of the 2020 Statute “On Audiovisual Media” was significant, with 58 deputies voting for, 26 against, and one abstention.

The bill was drafted by the Ministry of High-Tech Industry. According to the Ministry, the current law primarily regulates the 26 television channels that have free-to-air broadcasting across the entire country. The proposed amendments intend to extend the same content restrictions to “network operators”, or specifically cable television companies.

A specific norm is additionally envisaged in the bill concerning foreign programmes that are accessible in the country through network operators. If content interfering with Armenia’s internal political life is detected by the audiovisual media regulator, the Television and Radio Commission is authorised to apply legal penalties against the network operator. If any legal action in this regard isinitiated, the operator must halt dissemination of the programme until a conclusive decision has been reached. In case of non-compliance, the operator itself will be held liable.

In addition, a new article details the grounds, criteria, and implementation procedures for the suspension and termination of 10-year-long licenses of network operators.