Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ‘biggest driver’ of global internet freedom decline: report - The Hill

Global net state decreased for the 12th consecutive year, driven mostly by Russia’s penetration of Ukraine, according to a Freedom House study released Tuesday. 

Russia had the sharpest diminution of immoderate of the 70 countries assessed successful the study — reaching an all-time debased successful the organization’s 12 years of tracking. The dip came aft the state invaded Ukraine successful February.

The Kremlin blocked mainstream societal media platforms similar Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, arsenic good arsenic much than 5,000 websites, according to the report.

“The Russian government’s brazen penetration of Ukraine was the biggest operator of a diminution successful planetary net freedom. It’s had a truly acold reaching impact,” said Kian Vesteinsson, Freedom House’s elder probe expert and co-author of the report.

Russia’s penetration besides undermined Ukraine’s net freedom, helium said. Russian troops forced work providers to reroute net postulation done Russian networks successful the outpouring and summertime successful an effort that near Ukrainian users without entree to societal media platforms and planetary quality sites, according to the report. 

“The Russian authorities is undeniably astatine responsibility for the diminution of net state successful Ukraine,” Vesteinsson said. 

Other countries reported to person crisp downgrades successful net state were Myanmar, Sudan and Libya. Overall, radical successful astatine slightest 53 countries faced ineligible repercussions for expressing themselves online, according to the report. 

The study measures and scores net state successful 70 countries, which relationship for 89 percent of the world’s net users, based connected their obstacles to access, limits connected content, and violations of idiosyncratic rights. The study assessed developments betwixt June 2021 and May 2022. 

The Freedom House study besides recovered that a grounds fig of nationalist governments blocked websites with nonviolent political, societal oregon spiritual content. 

“There’s ever been immoderate grade of fracturing on nationalist borders, but we’re seeing that net fragmentation is accelerating astatine a accelerated pace. More governments than ever earlier are trying to isolate net users successful their countries from radical based astir the world,” Vesteinsson said. 

In the U.S., net state “improved marginally” for the archetypal clip successful six years, the study found. That uptick was driven by less reported cases of targeted surveillance and online harassment during protests compared with the erstwhile year. 

But the study inactive calls retired the deficiency of a broad national privateness instrumentality successful the U.S., a taxable that picked up immoderate steam successful Congress earlier this twelvemonth but failed to get a level ballot successful either chamber, and the online situation “riddled with” governmental disinformation and conspiracy theories up of the 2022 midterm elections. 

The U.S. wasn’t unsocial successful its uptick successful reported net freedom. A grounds of 26 countries experienced net state improvements successful the past year, based connected the report. 

“There’s country for optimism here,” Vesteinsson said. “The cardinal to each of these wins that we observed is effort from civilian society. It’s truly these nonprofits, media groups, and activists who are astatine the forefront of pushing different actors to support quality rights online. They played a starring relation successful raising consciousness of these problems. It’s truly captious that we physique connected that momentum and question to support net state successful the years to come.”