More than 55 countries sign a declaration for internet freedom
AxiosMAR 12 2022
According to the latest Freedom House internet freedom report, global online freedom has worsened for the 14th year in a row, with China and Myanmar coming tied in last place.
Regarding China, the report cites the country's "great firewall," which blocks any content opposed to the ruling Communist Party. As for Myanmar's drop in the rankings, it cites the military junta's recent banning of virtual private networks (VPNs).
While Myanmar fell to last place, the country with the larges single drop in the rankings was Kyrgyzstan, citing that government's banning of the website Kloop, which is funded by US-based groups.
The draconian internet laws of China and Myanmar leave virtually no room for free thought among their populations. Not only is the the entire internet censored by these governments, but such restrictions lead to the silencing and arrests of journalists and activists. Neither of these countries can claim to support freedom until they creat free and hones speech forums.
While it's fine to criticize countries like China, reports like this should not distract from how Western countries impose their own censorship regimes. The US military has used artificial intelligence to identify and scrub online speech it doesn't like for years, most notably during COVID and the 2020 election. This is still going on in both Europe and the US.