A new report has revealed that global Internet freedom has declined in the sixth consecutive year. Now, two-thirds of all Internet users are subject to government censorship.
Freedom House, a pro-democracy Washington-based group, has been tracking various issues related to people's civil rights and freedom. After examining 65 different policies and internet practices across different countries, they discovered that while 14 countries were able to make improvements to their internet freedom, 34 countries slid back.
Between June 2015 and May 2016, the report indicated that China was ranked as the worst abuser of internet freedom. Following China was Syria and Iran, while Brazil slid from "free" internet to "slightly free," and Turkey slid to "not free" at all.
The report also indicated that the countries that possess the strongest pro-freedom internet policies include Estonia and Iceland, followed by Canada and the United States. The Verge reported that in the United States, Internet freedom has slightly increased over the years with the help of the USA Freedom Act.
Freedom House also reported that the most notable crackdown in terms of internet freedom discovered this year was on secure messaging apps including WhatsApp and Telegram. According to Hong Kong Free Press, the government of China blocked Telegram because of its growing popularity among human rights lawyers. The messaging app was believed to be used by lawyers to communicate about attacks on the government.
WhatsApp is banned in twelve countries, while Facebook in eight, Twitter, Skype, and Instagram in seven and Youtube in six countries.