According to a journalist from a TV news departament who left the channel during the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests in August 2020, Belarus 1 was severely censored.[12] For example, there was a list of people whose names could not be mentioned in the news, which included opposition politicians, there was a blacklist of economists and political scientists, who could not be asked for comments, the use of the words "Stalinism," "cult of personality," " Gulag" was prohibited.[12] TV news unit journalist Alyaksandr Luchonak, who also resigned in protest of propaganda, also confirmed the existence of censorship.[13]