Disclaimer: For the first time this week, Coupe Circuit / Circuit Breakr is publishing the "Courts-circuit" newsletter in both French and English, where it will now be called "Short circuits". This newsletter provides a weekly digest of the news that has marked the digital rights landscape.

Latest internet restrictions

Cambodia 🇰🇭 Bangkok has banned Discord, Patreon and 29 other websites over illegal gambling links, according to the Bangkok Post on June 28.

The government claimed 23 of the banned websites should be categorized as online gambling platforms and the remaining platforms - which include Patreon - as unauthorized trading and service platforms.

The decision sparked widespread public outcry in the country.

China 🇨🇳  A new fascinating investigation by NetAskari, published on June 29, uncovered new findings about the Chinese crackdown on VPNs. The report states that the country’s actions against unauthorized VPN usage could soon accelerate thanks to AI capabilities.

It also unveils new information on companies offering solutions alleged to “protect against cybercriminals and hackers” but that actually help Beijing’s latest "unauthorized VPN" detection-and-ban measures that are being rolled out on university campuses in China.

One such company called FuhuaNet, based in Shanghai, offers VPN detection technology to prevent citizens from accessing banned or censored content online. The company is a regular supplier of network security hardware and software for government security bodies, NetAskari has found.

More on this: for those who may not have time to read the full investigation, NetAskari is offering a byte-sized thread on X. Check it out here.

🌍 Stay up to date with the latest internet disruptions with Internet Society’s Pulse shutdown tracker.

In this week's digital censorship news

🖥️ The Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) has announced a new version of its OONI Probe desktop app, introducing a redesigned dashboard with clearer measurement stats, an integrated "OONI News" section surfacing censorship findings, and improved support for run links and localization. OONI via Mastodon, June 26, 2026

🇷🇺 Russian officials are urging citizens to switch from iPhones to Android devices after Apple removed several high-profile Russian apps, including those linked to VK and the state-backed "Max" messenger, from its App Store. The move highlights a sharp reversal: Russia has historically pressured Apple to remove apps (filing over 1,200 takedown requests in 2025 alone), but is now criticizing the company for complying with Western sanctions and removing domestic services. Ars Technica, June 26, 2026 

🇮🇷 On the Internet Society Pulse blog, Imad Payande, a digital governance researcher at the Data for Governance Lab, explores how the war has helped restructure Iran’s internet into a tiered and monetized system. Internet Society Pulse, June 25, 2026

🇦🇿 Azerbaijan is building a single engine for online control. On June 2, two presidential decrees have in effect created a new National Cybersecurity Agency with the most far-reaching information-control powers the country has assembled in a single institution, Open Caucasus Media reported. OC Media, June 24, 2026

🇹🇷 Turkey intensified internet censorship in 2025, blocking more than 232,000 websites and domain names in a single year, as the total number of blocked domains since 2018 reached 1.5 million, according to a new report by the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD), a Turkey-focused, digital rights non-profit. Stockholm Center for Freedom, June 23, 2026

💡 SplinterCon host eQualitie has opened the third round of its Breakout Program Fund, offering a $200,000 pool to support projects advancing decentralized and federated technologies. This call prioritizes continued development of tools and protocols, stronger integration between existing systems, and practical but ambitious ideas that improve communication in constrained or isolated network environments. Applications are due by July 14, 2026 (23:59 ET), with shortlisted projects to be notified on July 28. eQualitie via email, June 23, 2026

Upcoming events

🗓️ Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa 2026 (FIFAfrica26), Mauritius, September 28-October 1, 2026
Host : Collaboration on International ICT Policy For East And Southern Africa (CIPESA)
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