The Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan has explained the reasons for the recent restriction of access to the global photo bank Shutterstock. The blocking was prompted by the presence on the platform of video materials related to the provision of escort services. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The department told Kursiv in an official request that the link https://www.shutterstock.com/ru/video/search/escort-girl to a specific video was entered by the Department for Combating Cybercrime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs into the Cyber Surveillance information system. Based on the order of the authorized body and in accordance with the norms of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan 'On Communications', access to the Internet resource on the territory of the country was temporarily restricted.
Based on the results of a repeated monitoring, state authorities found that the owner of the resource eliminated the identified violation of the law and removed the prohibited content. In this regard, access to the platform on the territory of Kazakhstan was restored.
Earlier, Kursiv reported about problems with access to the service that arose in early June 2026. This is not the first case of sanctions against this platform. In November 2022, the Ministry of Information already blocked the photo hosting service for distributing materials containing illegal advertising of casinos.
Shutterstock is an American public company headquartered in New York. It owns one of the world's largest platforms for licensed visual content, providing access to stock photos, videos, illustrations, music, and editorial materials.
The corporation was founded in 2003, and its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker SSTK. In recent years, the holding has been actively developing areas in generative artificial intelligence and data distribution. In 2024, Shutterstock closed the deal to acquire Envato. Based on the results of 2025, the company's total revenue amounted to $989.9 million, and net profit was recorded at $45.5 million. In 2026, the corporation is promoting a major deal to merge with Getty Images, which is currently undergoing mandatory regulatory procedures.