Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry has detained or summoned over 60 TikTokers over the past three months for posting ‘immoral content’, OC Media has learnt.
Reports that content creators on the social media platform were being detained first emerged last week. Meydan TV, an independent Azerbaijani news outlet, reported that around 10 TikTokers had been detained.
As news of their detentions broke, the Ministry of Interior told local media that the detained social media personalities were accused of disrespecting society.
Anar Gafarov, an Interior Ministry spokesperson, told OC Media that the authorities had ‘punished’ over 60 TikTok users over the last three months.
‘Some were arrested, some were fined, and others had a preventative conversation’, Gafarov said. ‘But we did not count the number of arrests or persons fined. We did not have statistics about that’, he added.
Gafarov did not say which articles of Azerbaijan’s criminal or administrative offences codes the TikTokers were charged under, but stated that those detained had shown ‘open disrespect for society and behaviour contrary to moral values on social platforms, especially during live broadcasts’.
OC Media was unable to contact those detained.
Among those detained or summoned by the police was Samir Ramazanov, posting under the username Semka, who has 2 million followers on TikTok; Jasarat Javadov, who goes by Pajizni Cesi on TikTok with 45,000 followers; Amrah Maharramov, Magerramoff9 on TikTok, with nearly 150,000 followers; and Rovshan Suleymanov, known as Roshka Rosh, with 89,000 followers.
The police also detained Sadig Mirzaev, the father of nine-year-old TikToker Adem Mirzaev, who has 114,000 followers on TikTok. Mirzaev went viral for posting videos in which he gets asked to insult or swear at people, as per their request. His father was detained for 30 days.
Javadov, who was detained for 30 days, posted content largely focused on interviewing women. He is known for his use of Azerbaijani slang and obscenities, and for raising money to help underprivileged people and those with health conditions.
Suleymanov was summoned to the police, presumably for posting content on TikTok discussing relationships and sexuality.
Fariz Namazli, an Azerbaijani human rights lawyer, said that the detentions and summons were ‘designed to suppress people’s free speech’, arguing that the charges under which the TikTokers were detained were unclear and vague.
‘Before this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in order to prevent this or that situation, stated that some persons should be brought to administrative responsibility, but did not specify under which article of the code of administrative offences they should be held accountable’, Namazli told OC Media.
‘I think these people were held accountable to completely different standards, all designed to suppress people’s free speech and intimidate them.’
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