2019 hasn’t been a great year for the Internet with a worldwide decline in internet freedom, including the most developed countries like the United States. A report has highlighted the manipulation and sabotaging of internet freedom by the leaders to propel their socio-political agenda.
The US and other countries reportedly declined Internet Freedom
In the United States Itself the Internet Freedom has gone down for the third consecutive year. The experts have owed the decline to the increased scrutiny of internet usage.
Immigration departments have kept a close eye on internet usage by the people. There have also been uprooted surveillance by law enforcement departments and intelligence agencies time and again. Moreover, the domestic and international disinformation and antitrust issues have led to drifting apart of freedom in internet usage.
Internet Has No Single Regulatory Agency
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The Internet has become one of the most prominent means of communication and interaction across the globe. The deep penetration of technology in human lives has eroded every other means of operation except the web over the past few decades. There is no single body that controls the Internet and its functionality, thus the governments at the various regions regulate and monitor the internet usage and expression along with various designated functional entities.
Freedom House Report Says Internet Freedom Continuously Declining
PC: Freedom House
As the impact of the Internet increased with time, and it became more potent than Print and television media, there has been increased scrutiny of internet usage. Reports have suggested that Internet freedom has gone down in the various countries of the world this year. The Freedom House report indicates that the freedom of the Internet has decreased for the ninth year in a row for the superpower like the US and internationally.
Governments and Agencies Abuse Internet
Lately, there has been a lot of hue and cry about the influential leaders and government agencies abusing the Internet for pushing their agenda. Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China have been explicitly named in the list of countries that abuse the Internet. 38 out of 65 countries in the research have leaders who appointed some external agency to create and manipulate online opinions.
Countries with the least and Most Internet Freedom
The paper named China as the biggest perpetrator of internet freedom abuse for consecutive four years. The censorship is enormous in China, which annihilated further with an attempt to control Hong Kong. The research also awarded Iceland as the best protector of Internet Freedom. Ethiopia, on the other hand, emerged as the most progressive country in Internet Freedom as its leaders are trying to decrease restrictions.
