Digital Security Keys to Face Nicaragua’s New Gag Law
Alexa Zamora recommends using Signal and VPNs, and advises independent media to implement digital security protocols to prevent online attacks.
Por Carlos F. Chamorro (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – La entrada en vigor de la nueva ley de Telcor, conocida como la “nueva Ley Mordaza”, ha generado preocupación y temores entre los usuarios y consumidores de internet y los creadores de contenidos, que son los principales blancos de una norma que pretende legalizar la vigilancia del Estado en Internet y el bloqueo contra los sitios web de los medios independientes.
However, even under Nicaragua’s prevailing police state and the enforcement of the Cybercrime Law, “technology provides alternatives for users and media to navigate Telcor’s Gag Law,” says Alexa Zamora, a Nicaraguan expert in digital rights.
Zamora is the author of the study “Analysis of the Convergent Telecommunications Law”, published in November 2024 by the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (FLED). She recommends that users “use a VPN and keep sensitive communications on secure apps like Signal.” For independent media outlets, she suggests “establishing digital security protocols to prevent attacks and breaches online.”
In a conversation on the program Esta Semana, which aired on Sunday, November 9, 2025, on CONFIDENCIAL’s YouTube channel due to television censorship in Nicaragua, Zamora warned about the dangers posed by the “Gag Law,” but highlighted the experience of Venezuela, where despite private providers blocking independent media’s internet platforms, technology still allows access to information and helps overcome censorship.
The new Telecommunications Law, which went into effect on November 6, has been criticized because, among other things, it puts the privacy of phone and internet communications at risk. How can Telcor, under the powers granted by this law, violate users’ digital rights in their communications? What types of services could be monitored?
This law by itself violates a large majority of digital rights, which are essentially the extension of human rights to the digital platforms we use every day. First and foremost is the right to privacy, because granting the authority to monitor users’ online activity in real time, without their consent and not necessarily linked to judicial processes, violates the right to privacy
Another issue concerns net neutrality. Net neutrality ensures that digital platforms do not arbitrarily restrict or remove information shared online, while respecting community standards and preventing hate speech. But with this reform, the State itself can decide what is published online and what is not, blocking, for example, websites it deems misaligned with the official discourse. This restricts the types of information users can access, undermining net neutrality as well as freedom of expression and other rights.
These restrictions would be enforced by Telcor either directly or through internet providers and telecommunications companies. How does the mechanism work?
“This is one of the most dangerous aspects of this law. We know that the State has mechanisms and networks to monitor and block online activity through various means. But this law also requires service providers to share information and block online activity at the request of the regulatory agency.”
Can internet and telecommunications users protect themselves from these threats, given that Nicaragua operates under a police state, or are they completely defenseless?
Actually, there are mechanisms, and it’s important to be clear that this law is only formalizing a process that has already been happening for over a year, in which the regime not only monitors online activity but also attacks certain websites. Part of the protocols that users and those running online platforms, including media outlets, need to have in place is the establishment of secure communication protocols.
Some measures are common sense. WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, which means that even if the service provider wanted to access your communications, it cannot do so directly. But to prevent any possible breaches, it is important to keep sensitive communications on secure apps like Signal, which provide end-to-end encryption, have servers hosted in safe countries, and offer the option not to collect users’ data.
It is also recommended not to take screenshots. These are basic security protocols to prevent any information you don’t want from falling into the wrong hands.
Finally, for those offering online spaces or running media outlets, it is recommended to establish digital security protocols to prevent attacks and breaches. This includes not collecting sensitive user data, using secure servers in third-party countries that meet the necessary security standards, and ensuring users are kept as safe as possible.
Another measure that has raised concern is the law’s intention to regulate, through Telcor, the content of media outlets or any other content creators. What mechanisms does the law give Telcor to control and censor media beyond what already exists in the country?
This law is especially dangerous, primarily because of the ambiguity in its application and the lack of established mechanisms. There is still no regulation for the law that sets out the procedures, which opens the door to arbitrariness. This could occur alongside the application of the Cybercrime Law, which aims to censor and criminalize online activity. Additionally, there is already a specialized unit in the police that works with Russian and Chinese technology to monitor online activity.
It is important to use common sense. If you know you live in a dictatorship, use a VPN and secure channels to access information. For the average user, using a VPN is essential, even to prevent attacks not directly linked to the law, such as data theft, because we are particularly vulnerable in Nicaragua.
Setting up two-step verification to protect your accounts and browsing, ideally with a VPN or as anonymously as possible, helps prevent your online activity from being criminalized.
Can internet and telecommunications users protect themselves from these threats, given that Nicaragua operates under a police state, or are they completely defenseless?
Actually, there are mechanisms, and it’s important to be clear that this law is only formalizing a process that has already been happening for over a year, in which the regime not only monitors online activity but also attacks certain websites. Part of the protocols that users and those running online platforms, including media outlets, need to have in place is the establishment of secure communication protocols.
Some measures are common sense. WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, which means that even if the service provider wanted to access your communications, it cannot do so directly. But to prevent any possible breaches, it is important to keep sensitive communications on secure apps like Signal, which provide end-to-end encryption, have servers hosted in safe countries, and offer the option not to collect users’ data.
It is also recommended not to take screenshots. These are basic security protocols to prevent any information you don’t want from falling into the wrong hands.
Finally, for those offering online spaces or running media outlets, it is recommended to establish digital security protocols to prevent attacks and breaches. This includes not collecting sensitive user data, using secure servers in third-party countries that meet the necessary security standards, and ensuring users are kept as safe as possible.
Another measure that has raised concern is the law’s intention to regulate, through Telcor, the content of media outlets or any other content creators. What mechanisms does the law give Telcor to control and censor media beyond what already exists in the country?
This law is especially dangerous, primarily because of the ambiguity in its application and the lack of established mechanisms. There is still no regulation for the law that sets out the procedures, which opens the door to arbitrariness. This could occur alongside the application of the Cybercrime Law, which aims to censor and criminalize online activity. Additionally, there is already a specialized unit in the police that works with Russian and Chinese technology to monitor online activity.
It is important to use common sense. If you know you live in a dictatorship, use a VPN and secure channels to access information. For the average user, using a VPN is essential, even to prevent attacks not directly linked to the law, such as data theft, because we are particularly vulnerable in Nicaragua.
Setting up two-step verification to protect your accounts and browsing, ideally with a VPN or as anonymously as possible, helps prevent your online activity from being criminalized.
Can media outlets protect themselves and their audiences from internet blocks, like in countries such as Venezuela, where private providers, in addition to state providers, are being forced to block media, yet the outlets still have ways to bypass these blocks?
Yes. One of the incredible things about technology is that there are always alternatives. For example, accessing websites through a VPN allows users to reach content. Even without a VPN, if a site uses platforms or mechanisms that make blocking difficult, that is an added advantage.
It’s also important to differentiate between site blocking, which is probably what we will see most often after this law is implemented, and internet shutdowns. There are projects developed in Venezuela, which I know best, that allow access to information even during or after internet shutdowns.
I can speak from CONFIDENCIAL’s experience and assure our audience and sources that we continue to maintain secure communications, and that our outlet, like most independent digital media, is prepared to keep operating despite attempts to block the internet. But what about social media, and the people who primarily communicate through Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or other platforms?
It is very unlikely that the regime will start blocking these social media platforms outright, primarily because of the volume of traffic they have. Although it is not impossible, as we have seen in Venezuela, where there have been times when these platforms were blocked, but VPNs help overcome these restrictions. Social media platforms and service providers have protocols that often go beyond national restrictions, and there are always ways to bypass blocks.
Another recommendation is to start migrating to decentralized social networks. We use Nostr extensively, which has two platforms, Damos and Primal. In addition to functioning like any social network, similar to Facebook, it allows users to share news in real time. These networks are very difficult to block and also allow media outlets or activists to monetize their online activity. Most importantly, they are tools against censorship.
How does this law affect companies, internet service providers operating in Nicaragua that are not state-owned, and telecommunications companies?
Compliance with this type of regulation really affects them, especially because it goes against the basic operational standards they are supposed to maintain. I wouldn’t rule out seeing legal conflicts in the short term, because in Nicaragua the main internet providers are not state-owned, and there are also international regulations they must follow to protect users’ rights, which this law prevents.
For example, in July of this year, it was announced that the Chinese company Zhengzhou Coal Mining, a mining firm, now appears as a telecommunications company in Nicaragua. According to two contracts with the Ministry of Finance, worth nearly $107 million, it will operate and develop a 4G network using Huawei equipment. Does the new Telcor law regulate competition, or is it biased in favor of Chinese companies?
It is biased. In fact, a regulation issued after the Convergent Telecommunications Law allowed the State to cede communications infrastructure to facilitate the operations of these Chinese companies.
Beyond the issue of fair competition and ensuring equal conditions for all service providers, a particularly worrying factor in the case of Nicaragua is that this type of technology from China has already been documented and used not only in China but also in allied countries to establish mechanisms of control, censorship, and, even more dangerously, to profile users online.