46. Do any other restrictions on online media advertisement (beyond limits) exist?

VIII. ELECTION CAMPAIGN

The CEC produced one standard poster with the photos and names of all candidates, their short biographies and platforms. The poster was produced in the Turkmen and Russian languages. According to the CEC, posters were put up at 170 locations in Ashgabat, and were also extensively displayed in other regions and districts. No other campaign materials were used. The incumbent’s image and citations from his works graced every newspaper, and were featured predominantly on outdoor billboards as well as inside public buildings’ halls where opponents held their rallies and, often, at polling stations, giving him an unfair advantage. The candidates had a negligible online presence. None had a campaign website. In view of a complete restriction on access, popular social media were not used for campaigning. Consideration should be given to further elaborating campaign regulations in order to explicitly provide for and encourage candidates to produce and disseminate their own campaign materials, in print and on the Internet.

X. MEDIA

A. MEDIA ENVIRONMENT The media landscape is characterized by the State’s de facto monopoly and strict control of all news and information services. All audio-visual media as well as the vast majority of print media are stateowned. Access to information remains extremely limited regarding both foreign and domestic affairs. Despite the fact that the 2012 Law on Mass Media set the foundations for the development of a private media sector, only four new private weeklies have entered the market along with a few news portals. The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) expressed concerns that the law contains restrictive regulations, including disproportionate limitations on online content, such as making users liable for truthfulness of all information posted by them.

(OSCE/ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report, Presidential Election, 12 February 2017, Turkmenistan, available at http://www.osce.org/odihr/316586?download=true accessed January 2018).

XI. MEDIA

A. MEDIA LANDSCAPE News and information services inside Turkmenistan are strictly controlled and monopolized by the state. The access of citizens to information about what is happening in their own country is severely limited, but this is mediated to a degree by their access to foreign satellite and online media.

Consideration should be given to relax restrictions on the right to free expression on the Internet and to promote universal access to the Internet.

(OSCE/ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report, Parliamentary Elections, 15 December 2013, Turkmenistan, available at http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/116011?download=true accessed January 2018).