For the past decade, China has consistently ranked last in the world for internet freedom due to its all-pervading online surveillance and content control system dubbed the \u201cGreat Firewall.\u201d <\/p>\n
But a new report out Wednesday shows that internet freedoms in China\u2019s neighbor Myanmar are now just as lacking. <\/p>\n
The report from Freedom House, a US government-funded NGO, found that global internet freedom has declined for the 14th consecutive year. China and Myanmar ranked joint last for 2024, with a score of nine out of 100. <\/p>\n
Since seizing power in a 2021 coup, Myanmar\u2019s military junta has violently cracked down on dissent, imposing restrictions on online access and speech including widespread internet shutdowns, and built \u201ca mass censorship and surveillance regime,\u201d said the authors of \u201cFreedom on the Net 2024: The Struggle for Trust Online.\u201d <\/p>\n
The report points to censorship technology introduced in May that blocked most virtual private networks, or VPNs, \u201ccutting residents off from tools they had relied on to safely and securely bypass internet controls.\u201d <\/p>\n
Myanmar\u2019s throttling of internet freedoms was designed to \u201csuppress the activities of civilian prodemocracy activists and armed resistance groups,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n
Human rights groups and United Nations experts have long documented evidence to support the report\u2019s claims. In 2022, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar said the junta was building a \u201cdigital dictatorship\u201d to curtail online freedoms and ramp up surveillance of civilians. <\/p>\n
Access to information online was \u201ca matter of life and death for many people in Myanmar,\u201d the UN report found, especially for \u201cthose seeking safety from indiscriminate attacks by the military and the millions trying to navigate a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis.\u201d <\/p>\n
Meanwhile in China, the Freedom House report found the government has continued efforts to \u201cisolate China\u2019s domestic internet from the rest of the world, blocking international traffic to some government websites and imposing huge fines on people using VPNs.\u201d <\/p>\n
In recent years, China\u2019s internet watchdog has stepped up regulation of cyberspace as authorities intensified a crackdown on online dissent. China\u2019s censors have reined in blogs, US search giants, and social media \u2013 even regulating \u201clikes\u201d of public posts. <\/p>\n
In response to the report, China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday that \u201cChinese citizens enjoy all rights and freedoms in accordance with the law.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said \u201cthis so-called report is completely false and has ulterior motives.\u201d <\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the report paints a dim view of global internet freedom, with conditions for human rights online deteriorating in 27 out of 72 countries surveyed. <\/p>\n
Of those covered by the report, almost 80% of people live in countries where individuals were arrested for posting their political, social, or religious views online. In a record 43 countries, people were physically attacked or killed in retaliation for their online activities, the report found. <\/p>\n
It points to Thailand\u2019s strict royal insult laws, that have ensnared hundreds of people in recent years, including one man who was sentenced to a record 50 years in prison in January for social media posts deemed damaging to the king. <\/p>\n
The Central Asian nation Kyrgyzstan showed the biggest drop in internet freedoms, according to the report, as President Sadyr Japarov ramped up efforts to silence digital media and suppress online organizing. <\/p>\n
Kyrgyz authorities blocked and later shut down investigative media website Kloop \u201cafter it reported on an imprisoned opposition figure\u2019s allegations of torture in detention,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n
Conversely, Iceland retained its status as having the \u201cmost free\u201d online environment with a score of 94 out of 100. <\/p>\n
The report also covers online disinformation campaigns and political interference in the run-up to elections, including harassment of independent researchers and fact checkers. <\/p>\n
In the United States, pressure on independent experts \u201chas left people less informed about influence operations ahead of the November elections,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n
False allegations against such researchers \u201cprompted a wave of litigation, subpoenas from top Republicans on the US House of Representatives\u2019 Judiciary Committee, and online harassment aimed at \u2026 participants,\u201d which had a \u201cchilling effect,\u201d the report found. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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