Global internet freedoms weakening, yet resilient

The latest annual report on online trends from Freedom House, published earlier this month, is predictably bleak. The democracy watchdog group says digital liberties worldwide deteriorated for the 15th straight year. State censorship and restrictions worsened in 28 of the 72 nations examined.

But there are also silver linings. Seventeen countries made positive gains — especially Bangladesh, where youth-led protests last year ousted dictator Sheikh Hasina. In Kenya, a severe internet crackdown came in response to spirited anti-corruption demonstrations.

A proven playbook for pushing governments to expand online freedoms is taking shape too. Civil society groups, media outlets and lawmakers are achieving breakthroughs with better legislation, greater awareness of online threats and increased accountability for platforms.

However, momentum is still decidedly on the side of autocrats.

“Digital repression has proven essential for regime security in authoritarian states,” argues Freedom House. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are also bolstering states’ abilities to surveil and manipulate online spaces. “The immediate future of internet freedom will depend on how governments deploy incentives for and control over the next wave of technological innovation.”

Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and Venezuela are cited as regressing the most. Sudan, Myanmar and Vietnam also rank among the worst environments for online freedom. Likewise for Russia. Since Vladimir Putin launched his attempted conquest of Ukraine, Russian citizens have increasingly lived in a distorted reality shaped by the Kremlin’s domestic propaganda machine.

China, meanwhile, remains the most repressive overall. Domestic websites and internet platforms are regularly strong-armed by government policy into altering their algorithms to promote the hardline ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. China’s government under President Xi Jinping continues to evolve of its AI-powered panopticon of state surveillance. And Beijing is exporting these tools abroad.

Democracies are not immune to backsliding either.

Indeed, governments in 85 countries to date have deprived citizens of internet and social media access as a means of social control — primarily to silence dissent and curb civil unrest. That’s according to an internet shutdown tracker compiled by the Netherlands-based virtual private network provider Surfshark, and NetBlocks, an independent internet-monitoring organization,

For example, in India — the world’s largest democracy — the government has ordered internet blackouts at least 153 times. Each one lasting nearly six days, on average.

What’s more, the physical building blocks of digital spaces are also being targeted as part of geopolitical struggles. Russian cyberattacks meant to knock Ukrainian telecom systems offline or attempts to shell them into oblivion have left Ukraine’s internet uncomfortably reliant on Elon Musk’s Starlink network of low Earth orbit satellites. The Kremlin has warned commercial Western satellites could become a “legitimate target” as part of its military strikes against Ukraine.

Elsewhere, Taiwan is investing millions of dollars to protect its undersea internet cables to defend against any Chinese attempt to annex the democratic, self-governed island.

These are all alarming trends. Yet another framework is emerging toward not only the preservation of internet freedoms but also their expansion. Since the pandemic, civil society actions have produced a growing body of case studies for how to mitigate illiberal uses of technology, both foreign and domestic.

According to Freedom House, this begins with pressuring tech companies to protect users and resist unreasonable state demands. Courts must be petitioned to intervene against government censorship and surveillance as well, while electoral support is mobilized for candidates keen on increasing digital rights through improved policies. Democratic countries must also embrace their role as vanguards capable of outlining a positive vision for the internet’s future in multilateral settings.

The potential policy upshot of these actions is reflected in the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and its Digital Services Act. Critics have rightfully pointed out how the regulation has fallen short and why the services act is not perfect. But these defects should not detract from their value as templates for other jurisdictions to adapt and improve upon.

And social media spaces, despite their glaring flaws, still offer their users an unrivalled capacity for democratic organization.

This includes the recent wave of gen Z protests across Africa and southeast Asia, as well as the women’s rights protests in Iran that rattled the country’s theocratic dictatorship. In Brazil, online activism helped deny authoritarian populist Jair Bolsonaro another term as president. Dozens of far-right candidates in down-ballot races were similarly defeated in both America’s 2024 presidential election and 2022 mid-terms.

All told, while there is plenty of evidence that online freedoms are being eroded globally, there are also signs that a more open and inclusive digital future is possible.

Kyle Volpi Hiebert is a Montreal-based political risk analyst focused on globalization, conflict and emerging technologies.