Global Internet Freedom Declines For The 9th Consecutive Year In 2019

A report titled 2019 Freedom on the Net published by Freedom House, a Washington-based watchdog organization has spilled secrets about the declining internet freedom.

The report analyzes internet freedom in 65 countries which constitute 87% of the world’s total internet users. Here are some of the important points from the report:

Global Internet freedom continues to decrease for the 9th consecutive year

The report mentions that the global internet freedom has declined for the 9th consecutive time in 2019. Out of the 65 countries in question, 33 countries have been on the overall decline since June 2018.

The countries where internet freedom decreased the most are Sudan, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe. On the other hand, 16 countries have witnessed an overall improvement in internet freedom.

China – the worst abuser of Internet Freedom

According to the report, China is the worst abuser of internet freedom for the fourth consecutive year. China is notorious for internet censorship and the report further confirms it.

The authorities of China have already placed a ban on popular social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and more and the country is infamously deploying surveillance systems in different regions.

Iceland has topped the list of countries with internet freedom. It became the best protector of citizens’ internet rights with no civil or criminal case against internet users for expressing themselves.

Almost 90% of Internet users are being monitored

Freedom on the Net report has presented staggering statistics such as 3 billion internet users that account for 90% of users are being monitored by one or the other kind of surveillance system. The report says that countries like Iran and China have deployed officials or private organizations to scan their citizens’ data.

The U.S. is teaching other countries to monitor citizens

Despite the fact that the U.S. is free of internet censorship, it is teaching other countries to monitor their citizens.

The report mentions that officials from the Philippines traveled to North Carolina to receive training on developing a new social media monitoring unit. Personnel from Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Batallion also traveled to the U.S. in April 2019 to learn location-based tracking.

Additionally, the report blames social media platforms for promoting illiberalism. We’ve already seen bad actors from Russia spreading fake information and meddling in the US elections. The report presents some eye-opening facts. You can read the complete report here.