Freedom House published its fifth annual report on Internet freedom around the world. As in years past, China is again near the bottom of the rankings, which include sixty-five countries. Only Syria and Iran got worse scores, while Iceland and Estonia fared the best; while Pakistan is among top 10 nations with least net freedom.
Founded in 1941in New York (America), Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world.
This annual comprehensive study covered developments in 65 countries between May 2013 and May 2014 showing internet freedoms around the world are on the decline for a fourth consecutive year.
The report assessed 65 countries, 36 were experiencing a negative trajectory over the past year. Pakistan slid two points from 67 in 2013 on the freedom score to 69 in 2014, ranking it 10th on the list of countries with least net freedom. India improved its score 42 from 47 in 2013 in a largely repressive Asia. Japan was the most Free State in Asia with a score of 22 followed by Philippines at 27. The biggest movers were Russia and Turkey whose score fell by six points to 60 and 55 respectively. Ukraine stood 33rd in 2014 going down five points from 28 in 2013.
By contrast, Iceland, Estonia and Canada were the Most Free Countries with scores of six, eight (nine in 2013) and 15 respectively. China, Syria and Iran were noted as the least free countries with freedom scores of 87, 88, and 89 respectively.
The internet is a crucial medium through which people can express and share ideas and Freedom House is there to safeguard internet freedom. According to some recent global findings*, 72% of all internet users are now active on social media.
71% of users access social media from a mobile device. Facebook is still the biggest kid on the block with over 1.15 billion users. Twitter has to be taken seriously with over 550 million registered users growing 44% annually.
The rise of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks has accelerated the growth of YouTube. With Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day, 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US.
