Cyber Attacks on Sulaymaniyah Media Intensify

Reports 11:37 AM - 2026-02-17

An image depicting a hacker and Sulaymaniyah city in the background.

Cyber attacks targeting media outlets in Sulaymaniyah are escalating, with dozens of pages and accounts shut down over the past four weeks. More than 10 million followers have lost access to these platforms, including the pages of Channel 8, Kobas, Khanm, and Esta.

KJS/Sulaymaniyah Raises Alarm

The Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate (KJS) / Sulaymaniyah Branch stated that the website www.boxhawal.com has been targeted twice in the past year amid ongoing cyber attacks on media outlets based in Sulaymaniyah.

According to the KJS/Sulaymaniyah, Boxhawal’s first Facebook page, which had 183,000 followers, was shutdown, while a replacement page — which had amassed 227,000 followers — was also shut down on Monday. Currently, Boxhawal, officially licensed, has no presence on Meta social platform.

The KJS/Sulaymaniyah Branch added that dozens of pages and accounts across Sulaymaniyah have been shut down over the last four weeks, depriving millions of followers of access to information, suggesting that the apparent aim of the campaign is to isolate audiences from these platforms, adding that Meta appears unaware of coordinated reporting campaigns executed by fraudulent groups.

Media in Sulaymaniyah “Specifically Targeted”

Karwan Anwar, Secretary of KJS/Sulaymaniyah Branch, told PUKMEDIA that the issue is not related to technical faults or copyright violations.

“All pages, accounts, and platforms in Sulaymaniyah province are facing cyber attacks and threats of closure,” he said. “These attacks are organised and specifically target media outlets in Sulaymaniyah.”

He added that, beyond shutting pages down, posts are being restricted and hidden, limiting their visibility even when promoted or sponsored.

Anwar noted that several conferences and seminars have previously been held to warn of cyber attacks on media and social platforms in Sulaymaniyah. 

Requests have also been submitted to the Media and Information Department of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), he said, urging authorities to take action, but no response has been received.

“Attempts to Suppress Free Speech”

An IT expert, who asked to remain anonymous, told PUKMEDIA that many of the cyber attacks originate from Erbil and, in some cases, have been traced to specific locations. The expert argued that media outlets in Sulaymaniyah and Halabja operate more freely and boldly, which may have prompted certain groups to attempt to silence them through coordinated online attacks.

“There must be efforts at the provincial level, involving both governmental and non-governmental organisations, to halt these attacks,” the expert said, calling for official communication with the KRG to prevent further targeting of Sulaymaniyah-based media.

Attacks Continue

As part of the ongoing wave of cyber attacks, the Facebook pages of Kobas and Channel 8 were shut down by Meta following coordinated reporting.

The affected media outlets stated that their Kurdish (Sorani) Facebook pages were targeted due to cyber attacks and the unfair reporting of their posts. They noted that these attacks have persisted for over a month. 

Previously, several pages and websites aligned with the Syrian interim government were reportedly responsible for attacks on these pages because of their support for the Kurdish cause in West Kurdistan (Rojava), the outlets said.

In the past, PUKMEDIA, Channel 8, Kobas, Esta, Khanum, SNN, and several other media outlets and social media platforms in Sulaymaniyah province have experienced similar closures and cyber attacks.



PUKMEDIA