(Reuters) - Kazakhstan, criticized in the West for tightening its grip over the media, plans to step up control over the Internet, the information minister was quoted as saying on Thursday.
Kazakhstan introduced new legislation this week putting print and television journalists under tighter state control despite criticism from the United States and Europe that it would further harm press freedom in the Central Asian state, reports Trend.
In an interview published in Kazakhstan's Vremya newspaper, Information Minister Yermukhamet Yertysbayev said he now wanted to stamp out "dirt" and "lies" from Kazakh Web sites.
"Those who think it's impossible to control the Internet can continue living in the world of illusions," he told the paper.
Yertysbayev said Internet journalism and other loosely regulated media could harm Kazakhstan's national security but did not say in what way.
"We are going to work out the main priorities of our state policy in the national segment of the Internet by the end of the year which is in the government's and people's interest."
Most Kazakh media are already under strict state control and criticism of long-serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev or his policies is taboo.
Pro-opposition outlets such as zonakz.net are either Web-based or run small-circulation newspapers and speak openly against what they see as Nazarbayev's authoritarian regime.
The Internet is used mainly by young Kazakhs who are more likely to sympathise with the opposition. Less than a quarter of Kazakhstan's population of 15 million regularly browse the Internet, mainly in the commercial capital Almaty.
Kazakhstan last year introduced rules requiring Web sites that use the country's .kz domain name to maintain two computer servers physically inside the country.