Affiliated media: Base, YouTube channel Base

Incident date: February 3, 2020

Attack type:

• Shutting down a media outlet / blocking an Internet site/ seizure of an entire print run

Who attacked: Non-authorities

Source: Adil Soz

Location: Kazakhstan, Akmola Province

Additional information:

On February 2, it became known that the popular YouTube channel Base, the editors of which are opposition journalists Aydos Sadykov and Natalya Sadykova, was blocked. Aydos Sadykov said that YouTube blocked the ability to publish new videos due to a mass attack from fake accounts, which were simultaneously reporting the channel and spamming in the feed, urging people to unsubscribe from Base. «The portal is working, but we are not allowed to post new videos. At first, more than 300 fake accounts attacked: in the comments, they were urging to report the channel and unsubscribe, they were spamming in the feed. Reports followed, packaged in five videos each, also from fake accounts without normal names and active channels. For some reason, the YouTube administration considered such reports and blocked access. I would like not to tell in more detail now, because the proceedings are underway, and we want to find out all the nuances of this attack», – Sadykov says.