Samvel Martirosyan on the Closure of TikTok in Armenia

Recently, rumors have been circulating online regarding the potential closure of the TikTok social network in Armenia. Information security expert Samvel Martirosyan addressed these issues in an interview with Sputnik Armenia.

Currently, there are no grounds for blocking TikTok in the Republic of Armenia. In a conversation with the media, Martirosyan expressed this viewpoint, adding that two instances recorded in 2020 and 2022 were linked to active military operations at the time, as there was a leakage of information regarding the movement of Armenian military equipment during those periods.

There has been information circulating on the internet indicating that TikTok may be blocked in Armenia starting from March 13; however, bloggers have not mentioned the reasons or grounds for such a blockage. “I do not have precise information regarding the blocking of TikTok in Armenia, but I can state that there might be three different reasons for the spread of such rumors. Firstly, some individuals may want to gather likes in such a manner; secondly, many people consider any information available online to be credible if it is already in the internet sphere, thus spreading it; and thirdly, it is very unlikely that such blocks will actually take place,” clarified Martirosyan.

It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia has introduced a legislative proposal that, if accepted, would allow the government to block social networks, electronic media, applications, and anything connected to the internet that could be deemed a threat to the legal regime of martial law.