Internet Freedom in Decline Worldwide, Popular Apps Under Assault

Is China secretly censoring WeChat?

Video above published by CNN.com Dec 8, 2016: Kristie Lu Stout speaks to CitizenLab's Ronald Deibert over reports China is implementing a "one app, two systems" policy for WeChat.

Source of graphics above: FreedomHouse.org

According to Freedom House, internet freedom has declined for the sixth consecutive year with more governments targeting social media and communication apps in order to inhibit anti-government protests and communications.

Among popular apps, WhatsApp is blocked in twelve countries while Facebook access has been cut off in eight, and Twitter is banned by seven nations. Users of these apps have been arrested for posting political, social or religious content. Facebook users have been arrested in 27 countries and Whatsapp users have been targeted by governments in eleven nations. The chart above shows the number of countries where the following apps are restricted/users were arrested in 2016.

Here's a rundown of recent articles documenting the decline in internet freedom worldwide:

• China: No 1 enemy of internet freedom or the global champion of online technology? | South China Morning Post | scmp.com
• How People in China Get Around Internet Censorship | HowStuffWorks.com
• Internet freedom is getting worse, and that’s bad news for Facebook | BusinessInsider.com
• The 5 Worst Places To Be An Internet User In Southeast Asia | forbes.com: #1 Vietnam; #2 Thailand; #3 Malaysia; #4 Indonesia; #5 Cambodia.
• How Turkey is strangling the internet - and hurting media freedom | MiddleEastEye.net
• Pakistan among 10 worst countries for internet freedom | tribune.com.pk
• Sudan: Internet Freedom - More Arrests, No Blackouts | allAfrica.com
• Internet Freedom Ranking Slips | Khmer Times  (Cambodia)| khmertimeskh.com
• Detentions dent Cambodia's internet freedom score, National | PhnomPenhPost.com
• Internet Freedom Declined In India, Says Report | OutlookIndia.com
• The Internet Freedom Foundation raises concerns over the public Wi-Fi model proposed by TRAI | tech.firstpost.com: "IFF also notes that The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression has upheld the freedom of users to be anonymous while online."
• SA and Kenya, Only Countries with Internet Freedom in Africa | face2faceafrica.com
• Internet freedom in Ethiopia is the fourth worst in the world | ecadforum.com: "According to a new index released by the nonprofit Freedom House, Ethiopia ranked ahead of only Iran, Syria, and China, out of 65 countries in terms of access to the internet, censorship, and freedom of information. It ranked the worst of any country in Africa."
• Internet Freedom is Declining, 2/3 Live in Countries w/ Censored Web | scribblrs.com
• UNESCO promoted Internet freedom and universality at Global Internet and Jurisdiction Conference | unesco.org
• Freedom Online: The Global Rise in Intentional Internet Disruptions | DipNote | blogs.state.gov: "A worrying trend at the top of the conference [Freedom Online Conference (FOC)] agenda was the global rise in intentional shutdowns of the Internet and mobile networks. According to modest estimates, some 25 governments on almost every continent have intentionally prevented or disrupted access to such networks more than 50 times since the beginning of 2016, a rate of at least once every six days."
• The long decline of online freedom | InternetSociety.org
• AT&T’s New DirecTV Now Streaming Service Threatens Net Neutrality | DailyDot.com
• Remembering the lost innocence of the early internet FT.com

Freedom on the Net 2016: Silencing the Messenger: Communication Apps Under Pressure (pdf):

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Internet In Cuba: Hope And Yearning For An Object Of Desire

Internet In Cuba: Hope And Yearning For An Object Of Desire

"....What you quickly find out here in Cuba is that the Internet has become an object of desire: something as rare and valuable as strawberries that everybody wants. By any measure, Cuba's Internet penetration rate is dismal. The government says that about 25 percent of Cubans have access to the Internet. But Freedom House, a watchdog that promotes freedom globally, says that number refers to Cubans who have access to a government-run intranet. According to Freedom House's experts, only about 5 percent of Cubans have access to the open Internet. That's why Facebook and the World Wide Web have become a kind of promised land. As we walk through G Street, we notice that many of the kids clutch smartphones. Out here, they're essentially useless, because the only real way to get on a Wi-Fi network is to pay $5 an hour at a tourist hotel...." (read more here)


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Internet Freedom, Best and Worst Nations, 2014

This charts shows the countries with the highest and the lowest degree of Internet freedom according to Freedom House's latest Freedom on the Net report. You will find more statistics at Statista

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