Jordan is listed as engaged in selective internet filtering in the political area and as showing no evidence of filtering in the social, conflict/security, and Internet tools areas by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) in August 2009. Internet censorship in Jordan is relatively light, with filtering selectively applied to only a small number of sites. However, media laws and regulations encourage some measure of self-censorship in cyberspace, and citizens have reportedly been questioned and arrested for Web content they have authored. Internet censorship in Jordan is mainly focused on political issues that might be seen as a threat to national security due to the nation's close proximity to regional hotspots of Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories.[18]
In 2013, however, the Press and Publications Department initiated a ban on Jordanian news websites which had not registered and been licensed by government agency. The order issued to Telecommunication Regulatory Commission contained a list of over 300 websites to be blocked. The mandatory registration of websites was a part of amendments made to the Press and Publications Law in September 2012. The amendments included articles that would hold online news sites accountable for the comments left by their readers, prohibiting them from publishing comments that are deemed "irrelevant" or "unrelated" to the article. The restriction caused several prominent sites to turn off their comments sections. Online news sites would also be required to archive all comments for at least six months.[19]