Kyrgyz authorities have begun blocking access to TikTok, a popular social media platform in the country, as part of a government crackdown on social networks and independent media.

Fearing conscription by the Assad regime? Want to start a new life in Europe? 

Surf online a bit, and you’ll find that a quick chat with the right people might just solve your problem. 

Human smugglers in Syria have taken increasingly to the social media app TikTok in recent months to advertise their services, which include “traveling without borders” in luxury vehicles that breeze through the military checkpoints dotting the mountain highway from Damascus to Beirut.

Moscow’s lawsuits against five social media giants for not removing calls to join government-banned rallies from their platforms are part of a new wave of censorship in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, experts said on Wednesday.