Freedom on the Internet and in social media in 2021-22 shows that only 18% of global internet users are assessed as Free, 34% as Partly Free, and 37% as Not Free. 11% are in countries that were not assessed. The judgements were made by country experts for Freedom House.
Countries’ internet freedom were rated under all important characteristics, divided into the three categories, with points that could total 100. They are:
A. Obstacles to Access, 0-25 points;
B. Limits on Content, 0-35 points; and
C. Violation of User Rights, 0-40 points.
Totals from 100-70 are called Free, from 69-40 are called Partly Free, and below 40 are called Not Free.
For eight years in a row, China has been at the bottom of the ratings. The outtake from the report lists the main rights being denied worldwide, and gives in detail the abuses by China.
Two thirds of the World’s population are in countries where people can be punished for free expression online.
Countries are now engaged in splitting the internet into national segments, largely to present propaganda, but also to secure private data over the web. 47 out of 70 countries examined limited access of other countries information.
The maps below show, somewhat like traffic signals colors, the freedom rankings of the 70 countries covered. Green designates Free, with 17 countries. Yellow denotes Partly Free, with 32 countries, and Purple denotes Not Free, with 21 countries. Gray countries, mostly in Africa, were not assessed.
We start with North and South America, where only Venezuela and Cuba were Not Free. These bad boys had total scores of: Venezuela, 30; and Cuba, 20.
The major countries here are: the United States, 76; Mexico, 61; Canada, 87; Brazil, 65; and Argentina, 71.
The next map covers the rest of the world.
The major Free European Countries rated are: UK 79; Germany 77; France 76; Italy 75. In the Far East the Free countries are Japan 77; Australia 76 ; and Taiwan 79. In Africa, there is Free South Africa at 73. The country of India, with a similar 1.4 billion population as China has, is only Partly Free, at 51.
In the current unwarranted and illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, there is the crucial question of whether Russians and the population of Russia’s allies are informed of the atrocious, inhumane, and illegal attacks being carried out in Ukraine. They aren’t — all being in the Not Free zone. Hence, the real world dangers of internet censorship.
Ukraine itself is Partly Free at 59. Russia is 23, and Belarus is 28. Direct drone supplier of Russia is Iran at 16. Economically complicit are also China, the bottom, at 10, Saudi Arabia at 24, and perhaps at the edges, Venezuela at 30. Hungary has dropped 69 places in press freedom under Victor Orban, and 11 in the Democracy Index, but managed a 69 at the top of Partly Free in the Internet index.
This is the link to the full report Freedom on the Net 2022.
