How (Un)Free is the Internet?

raquelgoulartra
11 minutes ago
2 min read

This article is published in collaboration with Statista

by Valentine Fourreau

Only 18 countries in the world can be considered truly free when it comes to the internet. What was once envisioned as a space to exchange information and foster community by connecting people around the world has, in some instances, turned into a tool of control and censorship. As our chart shows, most of the world's population has to live with only slightly free internet.

According to this year's Freedom on the Net report by Freedom House, 32 of the 72 assessed countries only have partial freedom when it comes to user rights and state control of the internet. China and Myanmar have the questionable honor of coming in joint last place in 2025, scoring only nine of a maximum of 100 points. This development correlates with recent reports of the Chinese government further tightening regulations on online gaming and internet use by minors. Inhabitants of Iceland and Estonia, on the other hand, are given almost completely free reign over their internet experience, with both countries coming in over 90 points. The United States scored 73 points, behind France (76), Germany (74) as well as some more unlikely candidates like Chile (87), Costa Rica (86) and Taiwan (79). Even though some countries were awarded high marks, the report also finds that global internet freedom has declined for the fifteenth year in a row. Of the 72 countries assessed, conditions deteriorated in 27, including in half of the 18 countries ranked as free. The report underlines that governments in the countries that suffered the most extreme declines over the 15 years of global deterioration in internet freedom - Egypt, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela - intensified their control over the online environment in response to challenges to their rule. According to Freedom House, of the 5.5 billion people who have access to the internet, 70 percent live in countries where individuals were attacked or killed for their online activities, and 61 percent live in countries where access to social media platforms was temporarily or permanently restricted.

The internet freedom ranking by Freedom House is based on three broad categories: obstacles to access, limits on content and violations of users' rights.

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