Zerkalo.io

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Zerkalo.io
Type of site
News website
Available inRussian, Belarusian
OwnerFormer TUT.BY staff
URLwww.zerkalo.io
CommercialYes
LaunchedJuly 8, 2021 (2021-07-08)
Current statusActive (blocked in Belarus and Russia)

Zerkalo.io (Russian: Зеркало, lit. "Mirror") is a Belarusian independent news website created on 8 July 2021 by former staff of TUT.BY, which had been the country's largest and most popular independent news portal before it was shut down by the Belarusian authorities.[1] The outlet operates from exile and has stated that it will cease to exist once TUT.BY is able to legally resume operations in Belarus.[2] The website is blocked in Belarus, and Zerkalo periodically changes its URLs to circumvent censorship.[3]

Background

A solidarity action for TUT.BY in Bydgoszcz, Poland, May 2021

On 18 May 2021, Belarusian authorities raided the offices of TUT.BY, detained 15 of its employees, blocked the website, and opened a criminal case against the outlet's management on charges of tax evasion.[4] Most of TUT.BY's editorial staff were forced to leave the country. A small team of former journalists decided to continue their work and launched Zerkalo.io on 8 July 2021.[2] The name "Zerkalo" ("mirror" in Russian) was chosen as a reference both to the concept of mirroring TUT.BY and to the outlet's mission of reflecting reality in the country.[2] Zerkalo.io obtained the right to use TUT.BY's social media accounts through agreements with TUT BY MEDIA LLC's owners.[2]

The outlet initially had about 12 staff members and was registered in Ukraine.[5] Less than an hour after Zerkalo launched, Belarusian authorities blocked access to the site.[6]

Extremism designations

On 13 August 2021, a court in Minsk's Central District, acting on a claim by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, declared the content of both TUT.BY and Zerkalo.io to be "extremist materials".[4] On 18 August 2021, TUT.BY and Zerkalo.io were added to the country's Republican List of Extremist Materials, making it an administrative offense to produce, store, or distribute any of their content, including logos.[4]

In June 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs designated Zerkalo as an "extremist formation", a significantly harsher legal category.[7] Under this designation, Zerkalo journalists face up to 10 years in prison for their work, while readers who donate to the outlet risk up to eight years for "financing extremist activities".[7] Even sharing Zerkalo publications can be prosecuted as "assisting an extremist formation", carrying a potential sentence of up to seven years.[7]

Blocking in Russia

On 8 March 2022, Roskomnadzor added Zerkalo.io to the Russian registry of blocked websites. The blocking decision had been taken by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office on 24 February 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[3] In August 2022, Russia's Prosecutor General also ordered the social media platform VK to block Zerkalo's pages, which had approximately 257,000 followers at the time.[3]

Audience and impact

By February 2022, the outlet reported reaching over two million unique monthly users, a figure that grew to approximately three million by March of that year.[8] According to a 2024 Press Club Belarus report, about 60% of Zerkalo's visitors are located inside Belarus, demonstrating the continued demand for independent news despite censorship.[8]

Zerkalo is widely regarded as the most popular Belarusian independent media outlet operating in exile. The International Press Institute, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Freedom House have all cited Zerkalo as a prominent example of the Lukashenko regime's crackdown on press freedom.[4][7][9]

Funding

In January 2025, Zerkalo representatives acknowledged that part of the outlet's funding had come from American sources. Some of that funding was abruptly cut off after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending foreign assistance disbursed by the State Department and USAID.[10] The Belarusian Association of Journalists estimated that a total of $1.7 million in aid to independent Belarusian media was frozen as a result, affecting multiple outlets.[10]

See also

References