World Internet Freedom rankings

The Global Drive to Control Big Tech:
 ILLUSTRATION @freedomhouse

World Internet Freedom rankings (selected)

✳️ Iceland - 1

✳️ Estonia -  2

✳️ USA - 11

✳️ South Africa - 12

✳️ Kenya - 17

✳️ Nigeria - 27

✳️ Uganda - 36 

AS the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) concludes a week-long online Media Campaign on Internet Freedom, here is a reminder of where Uganda stands in the world Freedom House Index.

The Internet Freedom week, as the United Nations has stressed before, provides an opportunity to journalists, civil society representatives, national authorities, academics and the broader public to discuss emerging challenges to press freedom and journalists’ safety, and to work together on identifying solutions.

According to Freedom on the Net, Iceland are ranked first in terms of internet freedom worldwide in the latest data from 2021 run on Statista.

Freedom on the Net is Freedom House’s annual survey and analysis of internet freedom around the world. 

Iceland placed first with 96 index points on the Freedom House Index while Uganda was 36th out 64 countries surveyed, with 49 points. 

Among the key findings were that global internet freedom declined for the 11th consecutive year. Freedom House found that greatest deteriorations were documented in Myanmar, Belarus, and Uganda, where state forces cracked down amid electoral and constitutional crises. Myanmar’s 14-point score decline is the largest registered since the Freedom on the Net project began.

According to the index, each country received a numerical score from 100 (the most free) to 0 (the least free). China occupied the last place in internet freedom, scoring only ten index points based on various factors including obstacles to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights. READ DETAILS HERE (click)

Should newsrooms impose restrictions on what journalists post on their personal social media accounts?

A higher number of journalists in broadcast agree— see ACME study https://t.co/7zs4vygaim

We speak to @HRNJUganda’s @RobertSsempala about #InternetFreedomUG for journalists pic.twitter.com/K9tDIJDJ73

— ACME Uganda (@ACME_Uganda) January 24, 2022

With the growing use of the internet as a mode of information sharing in Uganda, several laws have been deployed to limit freedom on the internet. NMG-Uganda Journalist @qataharraymond explains the implications of these restrictions on journalism #InternetFreedomUG pic.twitter.com/xtLxF3eBU1

— ACME Uganda (@ACME_Uganda) January 25, 2022

Find more statistics at Statista