Mirror Censored News Sites on Tor

Internet censorship is expanding globally. Countries block news websites using a variety of technical methods - DNS hijacking, IP blocking, SNI filtering, and URL-based filtering. Tor hidden services bypass all of these methods because .onion addresses are resolved within the Tor network, never touching the censored DNS or IP infrastructure.

• BBC News launched a Tor mirror to reach audiences in censored countries
• Deutsche Welle provides .onion access for readers facing government blocks
• ProPublica was the first major news outlet to create a .onion site
• The New York Times operates a Tor mirror for global accessibility

If major news organizations recognize the value of Tor mirrors, smaller independent outlets - often the most targeted by censorship - need them even more.

AnubizHost streamlines the process of creating a Tor mirror of an existing news website:

• Reverse proxy mirror - Use nginx as a reverse proxy to pull content from the original clearnet site and serve it via .onion. Updates automatically as the source site publishes new articles.
• Static mirror - Use tools like wget or httrack to create periodic snapshots of the news site, hosted as static HTML on your .onion address.
• Full CMS deployment - Deploy WordPress, Ghost, or a custom CMS as a standalone .onion publication with its own editorial workflow.
• Content sync - RSS-based synchronization to automatically import articles from the clearnet version to the Tor mirror.

We configure onion-location headers on the clearnet site so that Tor Browser users are automatically redirected to the .onion mirror, providing seamless access.

News mirrors must be highly available, especially during crises when censorship intensifies. AnubizHost ensures your Tor news mirror stays online:

• 99.9% uptime SLA - Monitored via Tor-based probes checking .onion reachability every 5 minutes
• Automatic Tor process recovery - If the Tor daemon crashes, it restarts automatically within seconds
• OnionBalance support - Distribute traffic across multiple backend servers sharing one .onion address for high availability
• DDoS mitigation - Rate limiting and connection throttling at the Tor service level
• Cached content serving - nginx serves cached pages during upstream outages to maintain availability

For news organizations operating in hostile environments, we also provide guidance on distributing your .onion address through QR codes, social media, and encrypted messaging channels.

Reach audiences behind censorship walls with AnubizHost's Tor hosting. Our offshore servers in Iceland, Romania, and Finland are located in jurisdictions that respect press freedom and resist foreign censorship demands.

• No KYC - Protect editorial independence by registering without identity disclosure
• Crypto payments - Bitcoin, Monero, Ethereum, and Litecoin for untraceable payment
• Fast deployment - Your .onion news mirror can be online within minutes
• Scalable infrastructure - Handle traffic spikes during breaking news events
• Zero logging - We do not track who reads your articles or when

Free press requires free infrastructure. Choose a Tor Hosting plan and ensure your journalism reaches everyone, everywhere.