RHODA WILSON

Globally, internet freedom has never been lower, and the number of countries that have blocked websites for political, social, and religious speech has never been higher. Also, the number of countries that arrested people for online expression reached a record high, according to a report released last week by human rights advocacy group Freedom House. 

Additionally, the report shows that governments in 16 countries are using generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) to manipulate conversations and automatically censor what’s online. Governments in Pakistan, Nigeria and the United States have used generative AI over the past year to exert increased control over the internet. 

Further reading: ‘How to fight for internet freedom’, MIT Technology Review

Freedom on the Net 2023 Scores 

You can view a list of scores given to each of the 70 countries included in Freedom House’s report HERE. 

While internet freedom may be primarily affected by state behavior, Freedom House states, actions by nonstate actors, including technology companies – are also considered. Thus, the index ratings generally reflect the interplay of a variety of actors, both governmental and non-governmental. 

Scores are allocated according to obstacles to access, limits to content and violations of user’s rights. Scores between 100-70 are denoted as “Free,” scores between 69-40 are “Partly Free” and scores between 39-0 are denoted as “Not Free.” 

Sadly, the bar for “free” is not very high. For example, the UK is rated as “free” as it scored 79 despite the censorship, vilification, spying and intelligence gathering of citizens that oppose the “official narrative” by both state and non-state actors. Although to be fair, the UK only just sneaked into the “free” category. That the UK scored 79 perhaps indicates how bad freedom of the internet is in other countries.

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