Article 174 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Article 174 of the Kazakh Criminal Code punishes "incitement of social, national, tribal, racial, class or religious discord", including insults to national honour and propaganda of exclusivity or superiority: two to seven years under Part 1, five to ten under Part 2 (by a group or repeatedly), and twelve to twenty under Part 3 (by a criminal group or with grave consequences). A 2020 amendment replaced "instigation" with "incitement" and promised narrower use; the caseload shows the change was not felt.

The documented cases are activists, bloggers and satirists prosecuted for posts, comments and, in one case, a parody news site. The charge is brought where a text about the government, the police, a national issue or a neighbouring state can be read as setting one group against another, and the "social discord" limb is used in the same way as in Belarus and Russia, with officials as the group. The year series below shows a sharp rise in the most recent period.