Washington DC [US]: China has secured last rank in internet freedom, according to an annual report by the US-based non-profit organisation Freedom House.
The organisation's 2024 'Freedom on the Net' (FOTN) report, which was released on Wednesday, assessed internet freedom based on data collected from June 2023 to May 2024 in terms of obstacles people face accessing the internet, limits on content and violations of users' rights.
Freedom House said that China shared its designation as the world's worst environment for internet freedom with Myanmar.
China and Myanmar both scored 9 out of 100 in internet freedom, the lowest among all the countries assessed.
According to the report, China intensified its efforts to seal off its domestic internet from the global network. The Chinese government blocked international access to certain official websites. Moreover, authorities imposed hefty fines on individuals using virtual private networks (VPNs).
"Beijing has persisted in its effort to isolate China's domestic internet from the rest of the world, blocking international traffic to some government websites and imposing huge fines on people using VPNs. The Chinese government also continued to systematically repress dissent, for example by censoring online discussion about activist and journalist Sun Lin, who died in November 2023 after police beat him in apparent retaliation for his social media posts about protests against Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping," the report said.
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