Which social media platforms face the most scrutiny in Kazakhstan
Instagram was the leading platform for prohibited online content detected in Kazakhstan during the first half of 2026, while Threads, Meta’s text-based social media platform, recorded the fewest violations, according to Aida Balayeva, Kazakhstan’s minister of culture and information.
Responding to a parliamentary inquiry, Balayeva said the ministry identified 27,631 violations across major online platforms during the first six months of the year.
The largest categories of prohibited content were advertisements for online casinos (13,806 cases), promotion of online drug marketplaces (7,448) and pornographic content (6,034).
Instagram tops the list
According to the ministry’s monitoring of Kazakhstan’s internet space, the number of violations generally corresponds to a platform’s popularity in the country.
The ministry reported the following number of detected violations by platform:
- Instagram: 9,532
- VKontakte: 8,503
- YouTube: 3,340
- Telegram: 3,018
- TikTok: 2,820
- Facebook: 269
- Moy Mir: 63
- X: 41
- Odnoklassniki: 25
- Threads: 20
Balayeva confirmed ongoing government talks with social media platforms on boosting child safety measures.
She noted that TikTok has already implemented age restrictions for users younger than 13 and has disabled several features for teenage users.
Kazakh-language content continues to grow
Alongside efforts to remove illegal and harmful content, the ministry has observed growing use of the Kazakh language online, particularly among younger users.
According to Balayeva, Kazakh-language content now accounts for 78% of material published by mass media outlets, while 60% of all content on internet resources is produced in Kazakh. Domestic television channels also produce more than 70% of their programming in the state language, she said.
