NEW REPORT: Election Meddling and a Growing Assault on Free Expression Online Led to the 14th Consecutive Year of Decline in Global Internet Freedom

WASHINGTON-Censorship and content manipulation undermined voters' ability to make informed decisions in elections around the world over the past year, and people in a growing number of countries faced retaliation for their online expression. Both factors were major contributors to the 14th consecutive year of decline in global internet freedom, according to a new report released today by Freedom House.

The report, Freedom on the Net 2024: The Struggle for Trust Online, found that governments in at least 25 of the 72 countries under analysis cut off internet access, restricted access to social media platforms, or blocked websites hosting political, social, and religious speech during electoral periods, often with the intention of shaping the results. Governments also turned to arrests, violence, and other forms of repression to silence online speech outside of electoral periods. In at least 56 countries, internet users were arrested due to their political, social, or religious expression. People were physically attacked or killed in retaliation for their online activities in a record high of at least 43 countries. Some of the most serious abuses took place in the context of armed conflicts. Internet shutdowns amid such fighting plunged civilians into information vacuums, prevented journalists from reporting on the violence, and hampered the delivery of lifesaving aid.

"People are struggling to access credible information online, and the proliferation of false or misleading content is stoking doubt in election outcomes and seeding long-term mistrust in democratic institutions," said Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, interim president of Freedom House. "Violent attacks and intimidation to silence online speech grew more widespread over the past year, when many around the world were preparing to head to the polls. Creating a safe and trustworthy space for expression online is essential not only for upholding internet freedom, but also for safeguarding and strengthening democracy."

Key findings:

• Global internet freedom declined for the 14th consecutive year. Protections for human rights online diminished in 27 of the 72 countries covered by Freedom on the Net 2024, with 18 earning improvements. Kyrgyzstan suffered the largest score decline (−4) on the report's 100-point scale, followed by Azerbaijan (−3), Belarus (−3), Iraq (−3), and Zimbabwe (−3). In contrast, internet freedom improved the most in Zambia (+3), as space for online activism opened.
• Myanmar and China ranked as the world's worst environments for internet freedom. Myanmar declined (−1) to tie with China for the worst total score in the report (9), marking the first time any country has ranked as low as China in a decade. Myanmar's military has conducted a brutally violent crackdown on dissent since seizing power in a 2021 coup, using an extensive censorship and surveillance system to suppress criticism and jailing thousands of people for their online speech.
• Voters' ability to make informed decisions and fully participate in the electoral process was undermined by censorship and content manipulation. In at least 25 of the 41 countries under study that held or prepared for nationwide elections during the report's coverage period, governments blocked websites hosting political, social, and religious speech; restricted access to social media platforms; or cut off internet connectivity altogether. In at least 21 of the 41 countries, progovernment commentators manipulated online information, often promoting falsehoods about the democratic process itself.Meanwhile, partisan efforts to delegitimize independent fact-checkers and researchers chilled their crucial work.
• Campaigns and propagandists used generative AI during major elections. A largely unregulated environment for generative artificial intelligence (AI) allowed political campaigns to use the new technology in a variety of ways, ranging from innocuous to highly deceptive. Generative AI tools were employed by parties and candidates to churn out appealing memes, mock political opponents, reach more diverse audiences, and even bypass state censorship in the most authoritarian settings. In the more concerning cases, malign actors used generative AI to create false and misleading information, augmenting older methods of content manipulation. However, the practical difficulty of identifying and analyzing generative AI campaigns has contributed to a major research gap in understanding the technology's impact.
• Many governments took steps aimed at addressing an unreliable information space during their electoral periods, with mixed results for internet freedom. The interventions included enforcing rules related to online content, supporting fact-checking and digital literacy initiatives, and adopting new guidelines to limit the use of generative AI in campaigning. While some measures failed to adequately protect free expression and access to diverse information, the most promising models came from South Africa, Taiwan, and the European Union.

"A free and open internet is indispensable for a well-functioning democracy in the 21st century," said report coauthor Allie Funk, Freedom House's research director for technology and democracy. "To reverse the global decline in internet freedom, policymakers and companies should renew their commitments to protect free expression, safeguard access to diverse information, and boost support for local civil society."

The report identifies measures that policymakers, regulators, and technology companies can adopt to foster internet freedom. The recommendations include:

• Promote freedom of expression and access to information: Governments should maintain access to internet services, digital platforms, and anticensorship technology, particularly during elections, protests, and periods of unrest or conflict. Imposing outright or arbitrary bans on social media and messaging platforms unduly restricts free expression and access to information.
• Defend information integrity: Fostering a high-quality, diverse, and trustworthy information space requires a whole-of-society approach. Policymakers should increase support for local civil society and media, invest in civic education programs, and incentivize the private sector to be more transparent and responsible.Companies should create mechanisms for independent researchers to access platform data, and invest in staff working on human rights, information integrity, and trust and safety, including teams of country specialists.
• Combat disproportionate government surveillance: Stronger protections are needed so that surveillance-including the use of intrusive monitoring technology and access to personal data-are grounded in the human rights principles of legality, necessity, and proportionality.Companies should standardize end-to-end encryption in their products, support anonymity software, and uphold other robust security protocols, including by notifying victims of surveillance abuses and resisting disproportionate government requests for user data.
• Protect the free and open internet as a pillar of democracy. A successful defense of the free, open, and interoperable internet will depend on coordination among democracies, which have a shared interest in this endeavor. Donor governments should also establish internet freedom programming as a vital component of their democracy assistance projects in other countries.

View the report's complete recommendations here.

Freedom on the Netis an annual study of human rights in the digital sphere. The project now assesses internet freedom in 72 countries, accounting for 87 percent of the world's internet users. This report, the 14th in its series, covered developments between June 2023 and May 2024. Chile and the Netherlands were assessed for the first time this year and serve as global models for internet freedom, with Chile's score (86) placing it third in a tie with Canada, and the Netherlands earning the sixth-highest score (83). More than 95 analysts and advisers contributed to this year's edition, using a standard methodology to determine each country's internet freedom score on a 100-point scale, with 21 separate indicators pertaining to obstacles to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights.

Click here to read translated versions of the news release: Arabic, French, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Russian, Spanish. Click here to read additional, regionally focused news releases: Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, Europe, Middle East.

To schedule an interview with Freedom House experts, please contact Maryam Iftikhar at [email protected]or (202) 747-7064.

Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to create a world where all are free. We inform the world about threats to freedom, mobilize global action, and support democracy's defenders.

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