Qazcontent

Qazcontent JSC (in Kazakh: «Qazcontent» акционерлік қоғамы) is a state-owned media and digital content company in Kazakhstan tasked with implementing the government’s information policy in the online sphere. The company operates a portfolio of official news and information portals, cultural websites, and state communication platforms, serving as a central hub for the state’s digital media presence.

Qazcontent JSC is a state-owned digital media company tasked with conducting Kazakhstan’s state information policy on the internet. It operates news, cultural, historical and official government platforms and commissions multimedia content under a state assignment.

Media assets

News and information: BAQ.KZ, a multimedia information agency launched in November 2010 and publishing in Kazakh and Russian; and EL.KZ, which began in 2011 as a scientific and educational social-media resource and became an internet resource in 2012, with its first web publication on 20 October 2012. Russian-language content followed in 2016 and English in 2017

Cultural and historical: E-history.kz, also presented as the Qazaqstan Tarihy project, and Adebiportal.kz, covering literature and cultural heritage

Official government information: Primeminister.kz, which Qazcontent describes as the internet resource covering the activities of the Prime Minister and Government, including decisions, instructions, meetings, statements and the official agenda

These five platforms are the resources named in Qazcontent’s current corporate description and in its 2026 state assignment.

Qazcontent’s 2024 portfolio also included BaigeNews.kz and Ruh.kz. BaigeNews, the modernised successor to BNews, was merged into BAQ.KZ during the 2025 restructuring. Ruh.kz no longer appears in the company’s current portfolio, its projects page or its 2026 state assignment; State Media Monitor did not identify a formal closure announcement.

Ownership and governance

Qazcontent JSC is wholly state-owned. The Government of Kazakhstan, represented by the State Property and Privatisation Committee, is the founder, while the Ministry of Culture and Information exercises the state’s shareholder rights and acts as the company’s sole shareholder.

The company’s legal lineage is unusual. In 2019 government decree No. 631 of 27 August ordered Kazinform LLP to be converted into JSC International Information Agency Kazinform, and the then-existing Qazcontent JSC to be incorporated into it; the merger was implemented under a State Property Committee order of 6 March 2020. On 23 May 2022, government decree No. 325 renamed the surviving Kazinform JSC as JSC Qazcontent. Separately, the Kazinform news-agency operation was integrated into the Television and Radio Complex of the President in 2022. The current Qazcontent JSC therefore derives legally from the Kazinform corporate entity that had absorbed the earlier Qazcontent company.

The Board of Directors currently comprises four members, including two designated independent directors. Its chairman, Madina Korganbayeva, is one of the independent directors; Nurkamila Akisheva is the other. The remaining members are Kanat Iskakov, First Vice-Minister of Culture and Information, and Baurzhan Tynysbekov, Deputy Chairman of the State Property and Privatisation Committee.

Adil Seifullin has chaired the Management Board since 4 June 2026. Immediately before his appointment he served as an adviser to the Minister of Culture and Information; earlier positions included adviser to the Chairman of Khabar Agency and management work at Kazinform. The Management Board also includes deputy chairmen Moldir Karimova and Rakhymzhan Mamyrbek, appointed in August 2026. Mamyrbek previously headed the Ministry of Culture and Information’s State Information Policy Analysis Department. Aina Zadabek chaired the company from September 2024 until Seifullin’s appointment.

Although two independent directors sit on the Board, State Media Monitor identified no appointment channel for parliament, audiences, employees or journalistic professional bodies that would give a non-state constituency governance rights.

Source of funding and budget

Qazcontent is directly financed through a state assignment for conducting state information policy on the internet. Kazakhstan’s 2026 republican budget allocates KZT 2.174 billion to the company for this purpose, covering its five current platforms: Adebiportal.kz, BAQ.KZ, E-history.kz, EL.KZ and Primeminister.kz.

The company’s 2024 annual report records receipt of more than KZT 2.1 billion under the state assignment that year and states that the assigned state-information-policy service was completed in full. Qazcontent also publishes procurement notices inviting creative proposals for multimedia content from external suppliers in order to fulfil the assignment.

Qazcontent publishes financial statements and audit reports. Its 2024 accounts record revenue of KZT 1.987 billion and annual profit of KZT 36.96 million, and Kazakhstan’s Financial Statements Depository holds a 2025 audit report dated 27 April 2026 with an unqualified opinion.

Editorial independence

Qazcontent’s own corporate documents explicitly connect its editorial operations to state communication. Its 2024 annual report describes implementation of the state assignment for conducting state information policy online as a priority activity, and characterises its websites as sources of official state information conveying the state’s official version and position on issues.

Kazakhstan’s Mass Media Act formally guarantees freedom of speech and prohibits censorship. State Media Monitor identified no statutory or governance mechanism specific to Qazcontent or its platforms that structurally insulates editorial decision-making from the state shareholder.

The company’s portfolio includes the official website of the Prime Minister, which is a government communication function rather than a journalistic one, alongside platforms presented as information agencies. State Media Monitor records that combination as a feature of the entity rather than treating the government site as an editorial asset.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor could not identify a published Qazcontent-wide policy setting formal requirements for generative artificial intelligence use, mandatory human verification, model provenance or audience disclosure.

The company nevertheless documents active adoption. Qazcontent says AI technologies were integrated into editorial processes during 2025 with positive results, and its January 2026 strategic plan identifies further implementation of AI across the company’s activities as a strategic objective for 2026 to 2028. In August 2025 it organised practical training for journalists in ChatGPT and other AI models, covering news writing, rewriting, translation, interview preparation, scripts and audio and video creation. In November 2025 it demonstrated its own AI tools, automation solutions and AI-Lab projects for multimedia production to representatives of Al Jazeera. In May 2025 it agreed a roadmap with the Institute of State History exploring an AI-based platform on the history of Kazakhstan.

Classification rationale

Qazcontent JSC remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is wholly state-owned and state-governed. The Government of Kazakhstan is the founder and the Ministry of Culture and Information exercises the state’s shareholder rights as sole shareholder. Qazcontent has a four-member Board of Directors containing two designated independent directors, but no appointment channel giving audiences, employees, parliament or professional journalism bodies governance rights was identified. Its current Chairman of the Management Board moved directly from an advisory position to the Minister of Culture and Information in June 2026.

It receives substantial direct state financing. The 2026 republican budget allocates KZT 2.174 billion to Qazcontent specifically for conducting state information policy through its five internet platforms. The company publishes audited financial information, although State Media Monitor could not establish the current proportion of state-assignment income to commercial revenue.

Its institutional editorial remit is explicitly tied to state information policy. Qazcontent’s own annual report describes implementation of that policy as a priority and characterises its portals as channels for official state information and the state’s official position. Its portfolio also includes Primeminister.kz, the Government’s official information resource. No company-specific mechanism insulating editorial decisions from the state shareholder was identified.

August 2026