2020 saw the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, a law was passed to outlaw many forms of making posts online.[1] The government claimed the bill was written "without prejudice to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of digital communications", and shortly began arresting people for posting information it deemed to be false.[10] Morocco's initial response to the pandemic put it "among the world's COVID-19 success stories" in the first months of the pandemic;[2] lockdown measures first implemented on March 20 began to be eased after several months, and a third phase of gradually lifting the lockdown had begun on July 19.