A new study by Freedom House, a pro-democracy research group, has revealed that global internet freedom has declined for the 14th year in a row, with Myanmar and China tied for the worst record, Al Jazeera reports.
The Freedom on the Net (FOTN) report, released on Wednesday, found that protections for human rights online diminished in 27 of the 72 countries covered. The report also highlighted the dramatic decline in internet freedom in Kyrgyzstan, where President Sadyr Japarov has cracked down on online organizing and silenced digital media.
Myanmar has become the first country in a decade to match China’s dismal internet freedom score. The military junta in the Southeast Asian country has implemented systematic censorship and surveillance of online speech, severely curtailing freedom of expression. The report noted the government’s move in May to block access to virtual private networks (VPNs), a tool used to bypass internet controls.
China’s low score for internet freedom is rooted in its infamous “Great Firewall,” which isolates the country from the rest of the world and blocks content deemed threatening to the ruling Communist Party. When asked about the report, Chinese officials stated that their people “enjoy various rights and freedoms in accordance with the law.”
Other countries downgraded in the report include Azerbaijan, the host of next month’s UN climate summit, for imprisoning individuals for social media posts, and Iraq, where a prominent activist was killed after a Facebook post led to protests.
Meanwhile, Iceland remains the “freest online environment” globally, followed by Estonia, Canada, Chile, and Costa Rica. Zambia witnessed the largest score improvement, with the report noting a growing space for online activism in the country.
For the first time, FOTN assessed conditions in Chile and the Netherlands, both of which were praised for strong safeguards for human rights online.
The report also raised concerns about the lack of safeguards against government surveillance in the US, placing the country at 76 out of 100 on a scale measuring the protection of human rights online. It specifically pointed to action taken by 19 US states against the use of artificial intelligence in election campaigns.
With several elections, including the US presidential election on November 5, scheduled for the remainder of the year, the report found that the internet has been “reshaped” by the upcoming polls.
