The Freedom of Net report 2019 titled “The Crisis of Social Media” was released by the The Freedom House, an international watchdog. The report recorded an overall decline in global internet freedom status between July 2018 and May 2019.
India obtained an overall score of 55 and was reported to be “partly free”.
Highlights
- Pakistan, with a score of 26, for the ninth consecutive year was declared as “not free” in terms of freedom status
- China obtained a score of 10 and was adjudged “not free”. Also, China was termed the worst abuser of internet freedom for the fourth consecutive year
- On the whole, 65 countries were assessed. Out of these, 33 showed an overall decline in internet freedom. Improvement was seen only in 16 countries.
- Ethiopia recorded the highest improvement in terms of internet freedom
- US had an overall score of 77. The online environment of the US was reported to be free from state censorship and vibrant. However, there was a decline in overall internet freedom in the US for the third straight year.
- Countries like Malaysia, Armenia showed positive trends in the internet freedom status
- Iceland ranked the highest with an overall score of 95. It was recorded as the world’s best protector of internet freedom. The country had no civil or criminal cases registered against the users for online expression.