Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has included Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin together on its 2026 list of “Press Freedom Predators.”
The report was published on Monday, November 2, coinciding with the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.
The list identifies 33 individuals and entities accused of acting against journalists, independent media and citizens’ right to access information.
RSF says the individuals and entities on the list have used various methods throughout 2026 to silence independent media, including killings, imprisonment of journalists, propaganda, threats, legal and economic pressure, and smear campaigns.
RSF has included Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, on the list because of the intensifying crackdown on media and restrictions on freedom of expression in Afghanistan.
According to the organization, dozens of media outlets have shut down since the Taliban returned to power, while journalists have faced arrests, censorship and widespread restrictions.
The prohibition on criticizing Taliban officials, restrictions on the work of women journalists, and the ban on publishing images of living beings are among the issues highlighted by RSF in its assessment of the media situation in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of the US president on the list is one of the report’s notable features this year.
RSF says Trump, who was not included on last year’s list, has been added in 2026 due to what the organization describes as an increase in attacks on the media and efforts during his second term to turn journalism into a tool of political propaganda.
The report states that the Trump administration’s actions have gone beyond critical remarks against the media and have extended to practical restrictions on journalists’ work.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, are also among the figures whose names have appeared on the list again.
In the political section of the report, in addition to Haibatullah Akhundzada, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the following names are also included:
Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan, Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, leaders of Nicaragua.
RSF has also identified prominent political figures and officials in other sections of the report, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government; Chinese President Xi Jinping; Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev; Argentine President Javier Milei; and Kenyan President William Ruto.
The report also includes the Israeli armed forces, the Chinese Communist Party, armed groups and drug cartels in Mexico, major technology companies such as Alphabet and Meta, as well as a number of media and economic institutions and figures.
RSF has organized its list of press freedom predators into five categories: political, security, legal, economic and social.
The selection criteria include actions taken during 2026 to silence the media, commit violence against journalists, imprison them, undermine media outlets financially, use laws to suppress journalism, and incite hatred against journalists.
RSF emphasized that the list complements its World Press Freedom Index. However, while the annual index assesses the state of media freedom in countries, the new list identifies individuals and entities that the organization believes play a direct role in undermining that freedom.
The organization says the purpose of publishing the list is to document methods of repression, prevent attacks on journalists from becoming normalized, and hold accountable those who restrict citizens’ right to free access to information.
