The mass media in Belarus consists of TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, cinema, and Internet-based websites/portals. The media is monopolized by the government, which owns all TV channels, most of the radio and print media. Broadcasting is mostly in Russian, and Russian media are widely present. After 2020, all independent media were pushed out of the country. The Law on Mass Media has been repeatedly amended and tightened, making it virtually impossible for independent journalists and publications to operate. European, Ukrainian and news websites were blocked in Belarus. The Constitution of Belarus guarantees freedom of speech, but this is contradicted in practice by repressive and restrictive laws. Arbitrary detention, arrests, and harassment of journalists are frequent in Belarus. Anti-extremism legislation targets independent journalism, including material considered unfavourable to the president. As of 2023, Belarus ranks 157th in the World Press Freedom Index. BBC describes the Belarusian media environment as one of the most repressive in Europe.
Pornography laws by region vary throughout the world. The production and distribution of pornographic films are both activities that are legal in some but not all countries, as long as the pornography features performers aged above a certain age, usually 18 years. Further restrictions are often placed on such material.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Belarus face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Although same-sex sexual activity is legal in Belarus, gay and lesbian rights in the country are otherwise severely limited and homosexuality remains highly stigmatized in Belarusian society. Households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. Belarus provides no anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people, nor does it prohibit hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Many Belarusian people believe that homosexuality is a psychiatric illness, and many LGBT persons in Belarus tend to hide their sexual orientation in public. Those who are "out" face harassment, violence and physical abuse.
Pornography has been dominated by a few pan-European producers and distributors, the most notable of which is the Private Media Group that successfully claimed the position previously held by Color Climax Corporation in the early 1990s. Most European countries also have local pornography producers, from Portugal to Serbia, who face varying levels of competition with international producers. The legal status of pornography varies widely in Europe; its production and distribution are illegal in countries such as Ukraine, Belarus and Bulgaria, while Hungary has liberal pornography laws.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Belarus. At least one execution was carried out in the country in 2022.
Censorship in Belarus, although prohibited by the country's constitution, is enforced by a number of laws. These include a law that makes insulting the president punishable by up to five years in prison, and another that makes criticizing Belarus abroad punishable by up to two years in prison.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people face widespread prosecution in Uzbekistan. Same-sex sexual activity between men is illegal in Uzbekistan. The punishment is up to three years in prison. Uzbekistan is one of just two post-Soviet states in which male homosexual activity remains criminalised, along with Turkmenistan.
Legal frameworks around fictional pornography depicting minors vary depending on country and nature of the material involved. Laws against production, distribution and consumption of child pornography generally separate images into three categories: real, pseudo, and virtual. Pseudo-photographic child pornography is produced by digitally manipulating non-sexual images of real minors to make pornographic material. Virtual child pornography depicts purely fictional characters. "Fictional pornography depicting minors", as covered in this article, includes these latter two categories, whose legalities vary by jurisdiction, and often differ with each other and with the legality of real child pornography.
In the United States, child pornography is illegal under federal law and in all states and is punishable by up to life imprisonment and fines of up to $250,000. U.S. laws regarding child pornography are virtually always enforced and amongst the harshest in the world. The Supreme Court of the United States has found child pornography to be outside the protections of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Federal sentencing guidelines on child pornography differentiate between production, distribution, and purchasing/receiving, and also include variations in severity based on the age of the child involved in the materials, with significant increases in penalties when the offense involves a prepubescent child or a child under the age of 18. U.S. law distinguishes between pornographic images of an actual minor, realistic images that are not of an actual minor, and non-realistic images such as drawings. The latter two categories are legally protected unless found to be obscene, whereas the first does not require a finding of obscenity.
The production, sale, distribution, and commercialization of child pornography in Japan is illegal under the Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Protection of Children (1999), and is punishable by a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or a fine of ¥5,000,000. Simple possession of child pornography was made illegal by an amendment to the act in 2014. Virtual child pornography, which depicts wholly-fictional characters, is legal to produce and possess.
Child pornography is illegal in most countries, but there is substantial variation in definitions, categories, penalties, and interpretations of laws. Differences include the definition of "child" under the laws, which can vary with the age of sexual consent; the definition of "child pornography" itself, for example on the basis of medium or degree of reality; and which actions are criminal. Laws surrounding fictional child pornography are a major source of variation between jurisdictions; some maintain distinctions in legality between real and fictive pornography depicting minors, while others regulate fictive material under general laws against child pornography.
Child pornography is erotic material that depicts persons under the age of 18. The precise characteristics of what constitutes child pornography varies by criminal jurisdiction.
Pornography in Asia is pornography created in Asia, watched in Asia, or consumed or displayed in other parts of the world as one or more genres of Asian porn.
In China, including the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan), the pornography laws and definitions vary depending on the governing authority. In the PRC there are criminal laws which prohibit the production, dissemination, and selling of sexually explicit material, and anyone doing so may be sentenced to life imprisonment. There is an ongoing campaign against "spiritual pollution", the term referencing the Chinese Communist party's Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign of 1983. Although pornography is illegal, it is available via the Internet. Nationwide surveys between the years 2000 and 2015 revealed "more than 70 percent of men aged 18 to 29 said they had watched porn in the past year".
Pornography in Bangladesh is forbidden. It is against the law to watch, produce, distribute, or possess pornography, since the Pornography Control Act has been passed in 2012.
All forms of pornography in Armenia is illegal and punishable by up to 7 years in prison, and according to Article 263 of the criminal code, the production and dissemination of pornographic materials such as videos, images, or advertisements by up to 2 years in prison or is punishable by a fine of 500 times the minimum Armenian monthly salary.
Pornography in Belgium is legal. Pornographic products, mainly magazines and DVDs, are typically imported into the country from France, Germany, the Netherlands, or from North America. Possession, production and distribution of child pornography is illegal in and is enforced by authorities. Possessing child pornography can result to up to 1 year in prison, and producing or distributing child pornography is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The law permits the prosecution of residents who commit such crimes while abroad.
Pornography legalization in the Czech Republic started in 1993 following the Velvet Revolution, when the country went from being communist to being a liberal democracy. The possession, manufacturing, and distribution of child pornography is illegal in the Czech Republic and is punishable by up to 8 years in prison. Possession of child pornography was made illegal in 2007 and carries a penalty of up to 2 years in prison. According to the Czech penal code, sale and distribution of pornography depicting violence among people or sexual intercourse with animals is banned with a penalty of up to 1 year in prison.
Certain types of pornography in Finland are illegal; this also includes child pornography. Pornographic material which are violent and bestial are banned. Selling pornographic material in any store is legal, but softcore magazines may not be sold to buyers under 15, and hardcore pornography is restricted to buyers aged 18 and above.
On 7 April 2022, Pavel Alexandrovich Pernikaŭ, a 30-year-old Belarusian human rights activist and Wikipedia editor, was sentenced to two years imprisonment for "discrediting the Republic of Belarus" by making two edits to Wikipedia about political repression in Belarus and posting one article to the website of a human rights organization about torture and extra-judicial killings in Belarusian detention centers. Days after his imprisonment, he was recognized as a political prisoner by Belarusian human rights organizations.
