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FREEDOM ON THE NET 2018 - The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism October 2018 - Freedom House
The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
October 2018

FREEDOM
ON THE NET
2018
FREEDOM ON THE NET 2018 - The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism October 2018 - Freedom House
Freedom on the Net 2018
Table of Contents
The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism                         1
    Major Developments                                       6
Tables, Charts, and Graphs
    FOTN 2018 Improvements and Declines                      3
    Global Internet Population by 2018 FOTN Status           5
    The World Is Buying What China Is Selling                 9
    FOTN World Map                                           16
    Key Internet Controls by Country                         22
    Largest Five-Year Declines                               23
    Global Rankings                                          24
    Regional Rankings                                        26
    Distribution of Global Internet Users
    by Country and FOTN Status                               28
Recommendations                                              20

This report was made possible by the generous support of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau
of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New York
Community Trust, Google, Internet Society, and Oath.

The following people were instrumental in the research and writing of this report: Mai Truong,
Jessica White, and Allie Funk. Tyler Roylance edited the report. Cheryl Yu and Andrew Greco
provided research assistance.

This booklet is a summary of findings for the 2018 edition of Freedom on the Net. Narrative reports of the
65 countries assessed in this year’s study and a full list of contributors can be found on our website at
www.freedomonthenet.org.

ON THE COVER

A display shows a facial recognition system during the 1st
Digital China Summit on April 22, 2018 in Fuzhou, China.

Photo credit: VCG/VCG via Getty Images
FREEDOM ON THE NET 2018 - The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism October 2018 - Freedom House
FREEDOM
ON THE NET
2018

The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
by Adrian Shahbaz

The internet is growing less free around the world, and democracy itself
is withering under its influence.
Disinformation and propaganda disseminated on-              With or without malign intent, the internet and social
line have poisoned the public sphere. The unbridled         media in particular can push citizens into polarized
collection of personal data has broken down traditional     echo chambers and pull at the social fabric of a coun-
notions of privacy. And a cohort of countries is moving     try, fueling hostility between different communities.
toward digital authoritarianism by embracing the            Over the past 12 months in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lan-
Chinese model of extensive censorship and automated         ka, and Myanmar, false rumors and hateful propaganda
surveillance systems. As a result of these trends, global   that were spread online incited jarring outbreaks of
internet freedom declined for the eighth consecutive        violence against ethnic and religious minorities. Such
year in 2018.                                               rifts often serve the interests of antidemocratic forces
                                                            in society, the government, or hostile foreign states,
Events this year have confirmed that the internet can       which have actively encouraged them through content
be used to disrupt democracies as surely as it can          manipulation.
destabilize dictatorships. In April 2018, Facebook
founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg testified
in two congressional hearings about his company’s           China was once again the worst abuser
role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which it
was revealed that Facebook had exposed the data
                                                            of internet freedom in 2018.
of up to 87 million users to political exploitation. The
case was a reminder of how personal information is          As democratic societies struggle with the challenges of
increasingly being employed to influence electoral          a more dangerous and contested online sphere, leaders
outcomes. Russian hackers targeted US voter rolls in        in Beijing have stepped up efforts to use digital media
several states as part of the Kremlin’s broader efforts     to increase their own power, both at home and abroad.
to undermine the integrity of the 2016 elections, and       China was once again the worst abuser of internet
since then, security researchers have discovered fur-       freedom in 2018, and over the past year, its government
ther breaches of data affecting 198 million American,       hosted media officials from dozens of countries for
93 million Mexican, 55 million Filipino, and 50 million     two- and three-week seminars on its sprawling system
Turkish voters.                                             of censorship and surveillance. Moreover, its compa-

www.freedomhouse.org                                                                                               1
FREEDOM ON THE NET 2018 - The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism October 2018 - Freedom House
FREEDOM      The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
ON THE NET
2018

                                                                         Democracies are famously slow at responding to
                 Rising Digital Authoritarianism,                        crises—their systems of checks and balances, open
                 by the Numbers                                          deliberation, and public participation are not condu-
                                                                         cive to rapid decision-making. But this built-in caution

                               8    Consecutive years of global
                               internet freedom declines
                                                                         has helped some semidemocratic countries fend off
                                                                         authoritarian-style internet controls over the past year.
                                                                         In May, Kenyan bloggers challenged the constitution-
                                                                         ality of criminal provisions against the spread of false

                               36
                                                                         news, winning a suspension of the rules pending a final
                                        Countries with represen-         court judgment. That same month, Malaysians voted
                               tatives who attended Chinese              in a prime minister who promised to rescind a recently
                               trainings and seminars on new             adopted law against fake news that was used by his
                               media or information manage-              predecessor in a failed attempt to sway the elections.
                               ment                                      Some countries are not just resisting setbacks, but
                                                                         making real progress on internet freedom. In a signif-

                               17
                                                                         icant if imperfect step forward for user privacy, over
                                       Governments approved or           500 million citizens in the European Union gained new
                               proposed laws restricting online          rights over their personal data on May 25 as part of the
                               media in the name of fighting             General Data Protection Regulation.
                               “fake news” and online manipula-
                               tion                                      Securing internet freedom against the rise of digital
                                                                         authoritarianism is fundamental to protecting democ-

                               18
                                                                         racy as a whole. Technology should empower citizens
                                                                         to make their own social, economic, and political
                                        Countries increased
                                                                         choices without coercion or hidden manipulation. The
                               surveillance, often eschewing in-
                                                                         internet has become the modern public sphere, and
                               dependent oversight and weaken-
                                                                         social media and search engines have both tremen-
                               ing encryption to gain unfettered
                                                                         dous power and a weighty responsibility to ensure that
                               access to data
                                                                         their platforms serve the public good. If antidemocratic
                                                                         entities effectively capture the internet, citizens will
                                                                         be denied a forum to articulate shared values, debate
             nies have supplied telecommunications hardware,             policy questions, and peacefully settle intrasocietal
             advanced facial-recognition technology, and data-an-        disputes. Democracy also requires a protected private
             alytics tools to a variety of governments with poor         sphere. The unrestrained and largely unexamined
             human rights records, which could benefit Chinese           collection of personal data inhibits one’s right to be let
             intelligence services as well as repressive local author-   alone, without which peace, prosperity, and individual
             ities. Digital authoritarianism is being promoted as a      freedom—the fruits of democratic governance—can-
             way for governments to control their citizens through       not be sustained or enjoyed.
             technology, inverting the concept of the internet as an
             engine of human liberation.                                 If democracy is to survive the digital age, technology
                                                                         companies, governments, and civil society must work
             Throughout the year, authoritarians used claims of          together to find real solutions to the problems of social
             “fake news” and data scandals as a pretext to move          media manipulation and abusive data collection.
             closer to the China model. Governments in countries         Multilateral and cross-sectoral coordination is required
             such as Egypt and Iran rewrote restrictive media laws       to promote digital literacy, identify malicious actors,
             to apply to social media users, jailed critics under mea-   and deny them the tools to fraudulently amplify their
             sures designed to curb false news, and blocked foreign      voices. When it comes to protecting data, users must
             social media and communication services. China,             be granted the power to ward off undue intrusions into
             Russia, and other repressive states are also demanding      their personal lives by both the government and corpo-
             that companies store their citizens’ data within their      rations. Global internet freedom can and should be the
             borders, where the information can be accessed by           antidote to digital authoritarianism. The health of the
             security agencies.                                          world’s democracies depends on it.

             2
FREEDOM ON THE NET 2018 - The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism October 2018 - Freedom House
Freedom House

2018 FREEDOM ON THE NET IMPROVEMENTS AND DECLINES

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www.freedomhouse.org                                                                                                                                                                    3
FREEDOM      The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
ON THE NET
2018

                  Tracking the Global Decline
                  Freedom on the Net is a comprehensive study           In almost half of the countries where internet
                  of internet freedom in 65 countries around the        freedom declined, the reductions were related to
                  globe, covering 87 percent of the world’s inter-      elections. Twelve countries suffered from a rise
                  net users. It tracks improvements and declines        in disinformation, censorship, technical attacks,
                  in internet freedom conditions each year. The         or arrests of government critics in the lead-up
                  countries included in the study are selected to       to elections. As Venezuela held a presidential
                  represent diverse geographical regions and re-        election in May to cement the authoritarian rule
                  gime types. In-depth reports on each country can      of Nicolás Maduro, the government passed a
                  be found at www.freedomonthenet.org.                  vaguely written law that imposed severe prison
                                                                        sentences for inciting “hatred” online. Implemen-
                  More than 70 analysts contributed to this year’s      tation of the “Fatherland Card”—an electronic
                  edition using a 21-question research method-          identification system used to channel social
                  ology that addresses internet access, freedom         aid—stirred suspicions that data collected
                  of expression, and privacy issues. In addition to     through the device could be exploited to monitor
                  ranking countries by their internet freedom score,    and pressure voters. Ahead of general elections
                  the project offers a unique opportunity to identify   in July 2018, Cambodia experienced a surge in
                  global trends related to the impact of information    arrests and prison sentences for online speech,
                  and communication technologies on democracy.          as the government sought to broaden the arsenal
                  This report, the eighth in its series, focuses on     of offenses used to silence dissent, including a
                  developments that occurred between June 2017          new lèse-majesté law that bans insults to the
                  and May 2018.                                         monarchy.

                  Of the 65 countries assessed, 26 have been on         Score declines in the Philippines and Kenya led
                  an overall decline since June 2017, compared          to status downgrades. The Philippines slipped
                  with 19 that registered net improvements. The         from Free to Partly Free as content manipulation
                  biggest score declines took place in Egypt and Sri    and cyberattacks threatened to distort online in-
                  Lanka, followed by Cambodia, Kenya, Nigeria, the      formation. Harassment of dissenting voices esca-
                  Philippines, and Venezuela.                           lated, with authorities attempting to close down a
                                                                        local news website known for its critical coverage
                  Even as the #MeToo movement successfully              of President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on
                  exposed rampant sexual assault and harass-            drugs. The media organization Vera Files, one
                  ment in some parts of the world, two women in         of several outlets to suffer cyberattacks during
                  Egypt were arrested in separate incidents for         the year, was hit with a distributed denial-of-ser-
                  uploading video confessionals on Facebook to          vice (DDoS) attack shortly after it published a
                  decry such abuses in that country. Both were          sensitive story about Duterte and his daughter’s
                  accused of spreading false information to harm        declaration of assets. In Kenya, which also moved
                  public security; one, a visiting Lebanese tourist,    from Free to Partly Free, online manipulation and
                  was sentenced to eight years in prison. Egyptian      disinformation targeted voters during the August
                  authorities undertook a broader crackdown on          2017 elections, while a Cybercrime Law passed
                  dissent by blocking some 500 websites, including      in May 2018 increased the maximum penalty for
                  those of prominent human rights organizations         publishing “false” or “fictitious” information to 10
                  and independent media outlets. In Sri Lanka,          years in prison if the action results in “panic” or
                  authorities shut down social media platforms for      is “likely to discredit the reputation of a person,”
                  two days during communal riots that broke out in      despite the fact that criminal defamation was
                  March and led to at least two deaths. Rumors and      ruled unconstitutional in 2017. An association of
                  disinformation had spread on digital platforms,       bloggers appealed provisions of the law, which
                  sparking vigilante violence that predominantly        were suspended for further review. These nega-
                  targeted the Muslim minority.                         tive developments occurred against the backdrop

             4
Freedom House

    of growing surveillance concerns and ongoing
                                                             GLOBAL INTERNET POPULATION
    arrests of bloggers and ordinary social media us-        BY 2018 FOTN STATUS
    ers for criticizing government officials or posting
                                                             FOTN assesses 87 percent of the world’s
    alleged hate speech.
                                                             internet user population.

    Internet freedom declined in the United States.
    The Federal Communications Commission                         Not Free                             Partly Free
    repealed rules that guaranteed net neutrality,                 35%                                   33%
    the principle that service providers should not
    prioritize internet traffic based on its type, source,
    or destination. The move sparked efforts by civil
    society groups and state-level authorities to
    restore the protections on a local basis. In a blow
    to civil rights and privacy advocates, Congress re-
    authorized the FISA Amendments Act, including
    the controversial Section 702, thereby missing an
    opportunity to reform surveillance powers that
    allow the government to conduct broad sweeps
    in search of non-US targets and routinely collect        Not Assessed
                                                                                                       Free
    the personal communications of Americans in                 13%                                    20%
    the process. Despite an online environment that
    remains vibrant, diverse, and free, disinformation
    and hyperpartisan content continued to be of                     FREE
    pressing concern in the United States, particular-
                                                                     PARTLY FREE
    ly in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections.
                                                                     NOT FREE
    Of the 19 countries with overall score improve-                  NOT ASSESSED
    ments, two—Armenia and the Gambia—earned
    upgrades in their internet freedom status.
    Armenia rose from Partly Free to Free after
    citizens successfully used social media platforms,
    communication apps, and live-streaming services          Of the 65 countries
    to bring about political change in the country’s
    Velvet Revolution in April. The Gambia jumped
                                                             assessed, 26 have been
    from Not Free to Partly Free, as restrictions have       on an overall decline
    eased and users have posted content more
    freely since longtime dictator Yahya Jammeh was          since June 2017,
    forced from office in early 2017. However, many
    draconian laws enacted under the former regime           compared with 19
    are still in place. While Ethiopia remained highly
    repressive, a new prime minister appointed in
                                                             that registered net
    April 2018 immediately moved to reduce tight in-
    ternet restrictions and promised broader reforms.
                                                             improvements.
    Prominent bloggers were released from prison,
    and citizens felt more free to speak out on social
    media and participate in their country’s potential
    transition from authoritarian rule.

www.freedomhouse.org                                                                                                 5
FREEDOM      The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
ON THE NET
2018

             Major Developments
             China remakes the world in
             its techno-dystopian image
             US president Bill Clinton famously compared the Chi-         Firewall, leading Apple to delete hundreds of the ser-
             nese government’s attempts to control the internet to        vices from its local app store.
             “trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.” But over the last two
             decades, the country’s “Great Firewall” has grown into       One of the most alarming developments this year has
             an alarmingly effective apparatus of censorship and          been the uptick in state surveillance. In the western
             surveillance. This year, Beijing took steps to propagate     region of Xinjiang, home to the country’s Uighur Mus-
             its model abroad by conducting large-scale trainings         lim minority, facial recognition technology and other
             of foreign officials, providing technology to author-        advanced tools are being used to monitor the local
             itarian governments, and demanding that interna-             population and thwart any actions deemed to harm
             tional companies abide by its content regulations            “public order” or “national security.” Leaked docu-
             even when operating outside of China. These trends           ments and other evidence revealed in August sug-
             present an existential threat to the future of the open      gested that as many as a million Muslims may be held
             internet and prospects for greater democracy around          in internment camps in Xinjiang, where they endure a
             the globe.                                                   “reeducation” process meant to forcibly indoctrinate
                                                                          them. Many detainees are held as a result of their
                                                                          nonviolent online activities.
Internet controls within China
reached new extremes in 2018 with                                         The abuses in Xinjiang foreshadow the impact of
                                                                          the nascent nationwide Social Credit System, which
the implementation of the sweeping                                        rates citizens’ “trustworthiness” by combining data on
                                                                          their online and offline behavior. Local activists have
Cybersecurity Law and upgrades to                                         already reported having their freedom of movement
                                                                          curtailed after being blacklisted for their criticism of
surveillance technology.                                                  government policies, and the Social Credit System
                                                                          may lead to many more repercussions of this kind. A
                                                                          government website contains a list of the names and
             The China model at home                                      identification numbers of individuals who have “lost”
             Internet controls within China reached new extremes          their social credit, as well as up-to-date statistics on
             in 2018 with the implementation of the sweeping              exactly how many millions of people are banned from
             Cybersecurity Law and upgrades to surveillance               air and rail travel. Planning documents call for the sys-
             technology. The law centralizes all internet policy          tem to be expanded to businesses, which could entail
             within the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC),         de facto blacklisting of foreign companies that refuse
             strengthens obligations for network operators and            to abide by Chinese rules on contentious political and
             social media companies to register users under their         human rights issues.
             real names, requires that local and foreign companies
             work to “immediately stop transmission” of banned            In what may or may not be a coincidence, state
             content, and compels them to ensure that all data            officials gave licenses to eight companies in 2015 to
             about Chinese users is hosted within the country. The        establish privately run credit platforms. Ant Financial,
             Cybersecurity Law has been followed by hundreds of           an affiliate of the e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba,
             new directives—an average of nearly one every two            runs a voluntary service called Sesame (Zhima) Credit,
             days—to fine-tune what netizens can and cannot do            which combines aspects of the United States’ FICO
             online. Among other steps, authorities have cracked          scores, a corporate loyalty program, and a computer
             down on the use of VPNs to circumvent the Great              game. Individuals can boost their score (ranging from

             6
Freedom House

                                                                                                                        Activists of the ‘Society
                                                                                                                        for Threatened Peoples’ in
                                                                                                                        Berlin demonstrate wear-
                                                                                                                        ing computer monitors
                                                                                                                        with a portrait of Chinese
                                                                                                                        President Xi Jinping
                                                                                                                        on July 9, 2018, prior
                                                                                                                        to a meeting between
                                                                                                                        German Chancellor and
                                                                                                                        Chinese Premier. (TOBI-
                                                                                                                        AS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty
                                                                                                                        Images)

350 to 950) by making charitable donations, pur-             his plan to transform China into a “cyber superpower.”
chasing products linked to good citizenship (such as         He offered up the country’s model of governance—in-
diapers), and befriending others with high scores. Ant       cluding its management of the internet—as “a new
Financial has partnered with hundreds of companies           option for other countries and nations that want to
and institutions to provide benefits for those with high     speed up their development while preserving their
scores, ranging from waived deposits at hotels and           independence.” But rather than simply leading by
rental-car agencies to expedited security access at          example, this year Beijing took major steps to estab-
airports.                                                    lish its standards and practices around the world, in
                                                             keeping with a detailed vision outlined not only in Xi’s
Much reporting on the issue has conflated the private        past speeches but also in party policy journals.
and state-run systems. In practice, the Social Credit
System probably poses a greater threat to civil liber-       For example, users of WeChat, China’s locally devel-
ties than any private initiative. But in a country where     oped social media platform, complained of censorship
political dissent is a serious criminal offense, services    even when accessing the service outside of the coun-
like Sesame Credit can be compelled by authorities to        try. US companies like Delta, United, and American
hand over all of the data they have collected on their       Airlines acceded to Chinese demands to list Taiwan
customers’ daily lives. Sesame Credit also incor-            as a part of China on their websites. The CAC blocked
porates data from the Social Credit System into its          the hotel company Marriott’s website and booking app
ratings, amplifying the impact of any appearance on a        after it included Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, and Macau
government blacklist. The government will likely study       in a list of “countries” in a customer survey, which the
the effectiveness and popularity of private credit           agency said had “seriously violated national laws and
ratings ahead of the full rollout of its own Social Credit   hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.” Service was
System set for 2020.                                         unblocked after the company issued a statement
                                                             asserting its support for the “sovereignty and terri-
A new flair for exporting the model under Xi                 torial integrity of China” and distancing itself from
Speaking at the Chinese Communist Party Congress             “separatist groups.” Mercedes-Benz issued a similar
in October 2017, President Xi Jinping publicly outlined      apology after an advertisement for the automaker on

www.freedomhouse.org                                                                                                7
FREEDOM      The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
ON THE NET
2018

             Instagram featured a quote from the Dalai Lama, the           for visitors to learn about “the Chinese Dream” and
             exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.                              “the important role played by new media in domestic
                                                                           and international affairs,” including China’s develop-
             One key avenue for China’s multifaceted expansion-            ment model. A three-week “Seminar for Senior Media
             ism is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a trillion-dol-    Staff in Arab Countries” brought in representatives
             lar international development strategy focused on             from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Saudi
             infrastructure projects that enhance Chinese trade            Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
             and influence in the host countries. The BRI includes
             a “digital Silk Road” of Chinese-built fiber-optic            While it is not always clear what transpires during
             networks that could expose internet traffic to greater        such seminars, a training for Vietnamese officials in
             monitoring by local and Chinese intelligence agen-            April 2017 was followed in 2018 by the introduction
             cies, particularly given that China is determined to set      of a cybersecurity law that closely mimics China’s own
             the technical standards for how the next generation           law. Increased activity by Chinese companies and
             of traffic is coded and transmitted. To this end, China       officials in Africa similarly preceded the passage of
             has organized forums where it can impart its norms            restrictive cybercrime and media laws in Uganda and
             to authoritarian-leaning governments, like the 2017           Tanzania over the past year.
             World Internet Conference in Wuzhen.
                                                                           Chinese companies under the spotlight
             China’s charm offensive                                       Chinese companies are playing a prominent role in
             against internet freedom                                      the country’s push for telecommunications domi-
             As part of its multilateral efforts, Beijing is cultivating   nance, having installed internet and mobile network
             media elites and government ministers around the              equipment in at least 38 countries. Some of these
             world to create a network of countries that will follow       firms are private enterprises and may have their own
             its lead on internet policy. Chinese officials have held      reasons for making such investments, but all are also
             trainings and seminars on new media or information            beholden to the government and its strategic goals.
             management with representatives from 36 out of the            State-owned China Telecom, China Unicom, and Chi-
             65 countries covered in this survey.                          na Mobile are laying down the digital Silk Road, with
                                                                           fiber-optic links to Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and Nepal,
                                                                           among other countries. A company called H3C has al-
Beijing is cultivating media elites and                                    ready won contracts to build the telecommunications

government ministers around the world
                                                                           network for airports in Nigeria and the port of Gwadar
                                                                           in Pakistan. Huawei is building Latin America’s largest

to create a network of countries that will                                 public Wi-Fi network in Mexico, Bangladesh’s 5G
                                                                           mobile network, and Cambodia’s 4.5G service, and is
follow its lead on internet policy.                                        advising the Kenyan government on its “master plan”
                                                                           for information and communication technologies.

             Last November, China hosted a two-week “Seminar               Chinese firms have also provided high-tech tools of
             on Cyberspace Management for Officials of Countries           surveillance to governments that lack respect for
             along the Belt and Road Initiative.” Visiting officials       human rights. In 18 of the 65 countries assessed by
             toured the headquarters of a company involved in “big         Freedom House, enterprises such as Yitu, Hikvision,
             data public-opinion management systems,” including            and CloudWalk are combining advances in artificial
             tools for real-time monitoring of negative public opin-       intelligence and facial recognition to create systems
             ion and a “positive energy public-opinion guidance            capable of identifying threats to “public order.” Cloud-
             system.”                                                      Walk signed an agreement with Zimbabwe to build a
                                                                           national facial recognition database and monitoring
             Often the trainings are focused on a specific country.        system. Citizens had no say in the deal, under which
             Media officials and prominent journalists from the            Zimbabwe will send biometric data on millions of its
             Philippines visited China for two weeks in May 2018 to        people to China to help train CloudWalk’s artificial
             learn about “new media development” and “socialist            intelligence (AI) programs to recognize faces with
             journalism with Chinese characteristics.” A similar           darker skin tones. Such collaboration and the data it
             conference for senior media staff from Thailand was           provides not only enhance the Chinese government’s
             described by Chinese news outlets as an opportunity           own tech-infused policing capacity, but also renders

             8
Freedom House

THE WORLD IS BUYING WHAT CHINA IS SELLING
Chinese companies are building the technological infrastructure of the 21st century, and Chinese officials are
training many of their counterparts on how to use it. The table below refers to events from January 2017 until the
publication of this report.

                   l –Telecom                           l – AI Surveillance:                    l – Trainings: Local
                   Infrastructure:                      Intelligent moni-                       media elites and
                   Internet and                         toring systems and                      government officials
                   mobile network-                      facial recognition                      hosted in China for
                   ing equipment                        technology devel-                       weeks-long seminars
                   installed by Chi-                    oped by Chinese                         on new media or infor-
                   nese companies                       companies                               mation management

                               PF                                                 Libya    PF                           FOTN 2018 Status
                  Angola               l        l                                               l              l
                                                                                           PF                              F – FREE
                 Armenia       F          l                                    Malawi          l             l
                                                                                                                           PF – PARTLY FREE
                 Australia     F       l                                     Malaysia    PF           l      
                                                                                                                           NF – NOT FREE
              Azerbaijan       PF         l                                   Mexico     PF    l             
                  Bahrain      NF      l                                     Morocco     PF    l             l
             Bangladesh        PF      l        l                             Myanmar NF        l             l
                  Belarus      NF      l        l                              Nigeria    PF    l             l
                    Brazil     PF              l                             Pakistan NF       l       l      l
                Cambodia       PF      l        l                        Philippines      PF                 l
                  Canada       F       l                                       Russia NF                    l
                    Cuba       NF      l                                      Rwanda     PF    l       l      l
                 Ecuador       PF      l   l                           Saudi Arabia NF          l             l
                    Egypt      NF      l        l                         Singapore       PF           l      l
                 Ethiopia      NF      l        l                      South Africa       F     l             l
                   France      F       l                                     Sri Lanka   PF    l       l      l
            The Gambia         PF              l                               Sudan NF        l             l
                  Georgia      F               l                                 Syria NF                   l
                Germany        F       l   l                                  Thailand NF                    l
                 Hungary       F       l                                       Tunisia   PF    l             
                    India      PF      l        l                              Uganda     PF    l             
                Indonesia      PF              l                              Ukraine    PF           l      
                       Iran    NF      l        l            United Arab Emirates NF                   l      l
                       Italy   F       l                          United Kingdom         F     l             
                   Japan       F       l                                Uzbekistan NF                 l      
                   Jordan      PF              l                         Venezuela NF          l       l      l
             Kazakhstan        NF         l                                  Vietnam NF                     l
                   Kenya       PF      l   l     l                              Zambia     PF    l       l      l
              Kyrgyzstan       PF         l                             Zimbabwe         PF    l       l      l
                 Lebanon       PF      l        l                             # of countries   38      18      36

www.freedomhouse.org                                                                                                 9
FREEDOM      The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
ON THE NET
2018

             the companies’ products more effective and attractive      System or otherwise comply with antidemocratic
             to foreign autocrats.                                      standards and practices.

             As more of the world’s critical telecommunications in-     Citizens can also hold companies accountable for
             frastructure is built by China, global data may become     compromising their commitments to democratic
             more accessible to Chinese intelligence agencies. All      values for the sake of access to China’s lucrative
             companies operating in China are obligated by law to       market. In an internal company letter from August,
             insert a back door that allows local authorities to read   some 1,400 Google employees called for greater
             encrypted data. The systems these companies install        transparency after media reports revealed plans to
             abroad may have similar vulnerabilities. In January        launch a censored search and mobile news service in
             2018, African Union security staff reported that their     China, in which users’ activity would be linked to their
             computer systems had been sending confidential             telephone numbers. Similar internal pressure in June
             data back to Shanghai every day for five years. China      led the company to reevaluate its work with the US
             had spent $200 million constructing the AU’s new           Defense Department in the field of artificial intelli-
             headquarters in Addis Ababa, including its computer        gence; chief executive Sundar Pichai publicly pledged
             network.                                                   not to pursue AI applications, including surveillance
                                                                        tools, that are likely to cause harm or contravene
             Such incidents have led to greater scrutiny of             “widely accepted principles of international law and
             Chinese companies in democracies. In August,               human rights.”
             the United States banned government agencies
             and contractors from using certain products from           As China strives to become an AI powerhouse by
             Huawei, ZTE, and several other Chinese technology          2030, the moral and ethical concerns surrounding the
             firms. Testifying before the Senate, US intelligence       technology deserve greater attention. Like nuclear
             chiefs had warned citizens against using Huawei and        science, AI will inevitably fall into the hands of gov-
                                                                        ernments that seek to use it for authoritarian ends.

As more of the world’s critical                                         Democracies will face temptations as well, given the
                                                                        appeal of AI applications for everything from e-com-
telecommunications infrastructure is                                    merce to national security. Ensuring that government
                                                                        agencies and private companies abide by ethical codes
built by China, global data may become                                  will require constant vigilance by civil society, investiga-
                                                                        tive journalists, and official oversight bodies, the last of
more accessible to Chinese                                              which may play a key role in preventing the transfer of

intelligence agencies.                                                  advanced technology that can be used for both benign
                                                                        and malign purposes to countries like China.

             ZTE products, with Federal Bureau of Investigation         But the best way for democracies to stem the rise
             director Christopher Wray stating his deep concern         of digital authoritarianism is to prove that there is a
             “about the risks of allowing any company or entity         better model for managing the internet. This entails
             that is beholden to foreign governments that don’t         tackling social media manipulation and misuse of
             share our values to gain positions of power inside         data in a manner that respects human rights, while
             our telecommunications networks.” Australia also           preserving an internet that is global, free, and secure.
             banned local providers from purchasing 5G equip-           Democratic governments will have to devote much
             ment from Huawei and ZTE and instructed military           greater diplomatic and other resources to countering
             personnel not to use WeChat on their mobile phones         China’s charm offensive on the international stage.
             due to security concerns.                                  More governments are turning to China for guidance
                                                                        and support at a time when the United States’ global
             How democracies can push back                              leadership is on the decline, and the acquiescence of
             Democracies have a number of options for slowing           foreign companies to Beijing’s demands only embold-
             China’s techno-dystopian expansionism, from tighten-       ens the regime in its effort to rewrite international
             ing import and export controls to imposing sanctions       rules in its favor. If democracies fail to advance their
             on tech companies that enable human rights abus-           own principles and interests with equal determina-
             es. They can also help defend their own companies          tion, digital authoritarianism will become an inescap-
             from demands to participate in China’s Social Credit       able reality almost by default.

             10
Freedom House

Citing fake news, governments
curb online dissent
Like “terrorism,” the term “fake news” has been co-opt-
ed by authoritarian leaders to justify crackdowns on       Global internet user stats
dissent. Deliberately falsified or misleading content
is a genuine problem, but some governments are
using it as a pretext to consolidate their control over
information. In the past year, at least 17 countries
                                                           Nearly 3.7 billion                  people
                                                           have access to the internet.
approved or proposed laws that would restrict online
media in the name of fighting “fake news” and online       According to Freedom House estimates:
manipulation.

Effectively countering disinformation and violent
extremism online will require smart solutions rang-
                                                           71%           live in countries where ICT
ing from digital literacy education to partnerships        users were arrested or imprisoned for
between civil society and tech companies. Yet many         posting content on political, social, or
of the states mulling new media laws are more              religious issues.
concerned about asserting political dominance in

                                                           55%
the online sphere than protecting their populations
from false news. Governments in Belarus, Cambodia,                       live in countries where
China, Egypt, Iran, and Russia all took steps to silence   political, social, or religious content was
independent voices, essentially arguing that only the
                                                           blocked online.
state can be trusted to separate truth from fiction.
Even democracies are at risk, as the fervor over “fake
news” threatens to propel overreaching restrictions
on freedom of expression and the outsourcing of key        48%          live in countries where individ-
censorship decisions to ill-equipped and often opaque      uals have been attacked or killed for their
tech companies.                                            online activities since June 2017.

                                                           47%
Making everyone a journalist, in countries
where journalism is a crime                                              live in countries where the
A number of governments are moving to regulate             surveillance powers of the authorities in-
social media users as media outlets in order to legit-
                                                           creased in the past year, threatening user
imize further crackdowns on online speech. Egypt, a
                                                           rights to privacy.
country that ranks third in the world for the number
of journalists behind bars, passed new legislation
over the summer that requires all social media users
with more than 5,000 followers to procure a license        47%         live in countries where access
from the Higher Council for Media Regulation. The          to social media or messaging platforms
law bears a strong resemblance to measures passed          were temporarily or permanently blocked.
earlier in other countries: Cambodia now requires all

                                                           42%
websites to register with the Ministry of Information
as part of a directive passed in July that also pre-                     live under governments that
scribed jail sentences of up to two years for spread-
                                                           disconnected internet or mobile networks,
ing fake news online; some of the country’s last
                                                           often for political reasons.
remaining independent news sites have been shut-
tered or sold off as part of an ongoing crackdown on
the press. In June 2017, China began implementing
regulations that ban some social media accounts
from posting news without a permit, while in January

www.freedomhouse.org                                                                                       11
FREEDOM                     The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
ON THE NET
2018

                                                                                     Authoritarian leaders have targeted entire news orga-
                                                                                     nizations under the guise of combating fake news. In
                                                                                     Kazakhstan, online media outlets Ratel and Forbes.kz
                                                                                     faced criminal charges of spreading false informa-
                                                                                     tion after businessman and former top government
                                                                                     official Zeinulla Kakimzhanov filed a complaint over
                                                                                     stories that accused him of involvement in corruption.
                                                                                     Lawmakers in the Philippines proposed criminalizing
                                                                                     the dissemination of false news with malicious intent.
                                                                                     President Rodrigo Duterte has attacked the investi-
                                                                                     gative media site Rappler as a “fake news outlet” and
                                                                                     sought to shut it down in January over alleged foreign
                                                                                     funding violations.

                                                                                     Shutting down internet access
                                                                                     While more repressive governments tend to use false
                                                                                     news and hate speech as an excuse to curb dissent
                                                                                     or independent reporting, inflammatory lies on social
                                                                                     media remain an urgent problem in many countries,
An authorized rally in      2017, administrators of Telegram groups with over        and some have responded by cutting off access
protest against internet
                            5,000 followers were asked to register with author-      entirely.
censorship takes place in
central Moscow. (Photo by   ities in Iran. Russia pioneered these tactics with a
Vladimir Gerdo\TASS via     2014 law that required the registration of blogs with    Authorities in India and Sri Lanka temporarily shut
Getty Images)
                            over 3,000 monthly visitors as media outlets. The        down mobile networks or blocked social media apps
                            Russian law also made bloggers liable for the “accu-     during riots and protests, claiming that the measures
                            racy” of their content, in a legal environment where     were necessary to halt the flow of disinformation and
                            criticism of the government is often deemed false or     incitement to violence. In March, online rumors that
                            extremist.                                               Muslims were trying to sterilize Sinhalese Buddhists
                                                                                     in Sri Lanka led a group of Buddhist men to beat a

India leads the world in the number                                                  Muslim man and set fire to his shop. In the ensuing
                                                                                     weeks, extremists used Facebook to implore followers
of internet shutdowns, with over 100                                                 to “rape without leaving an iota behind” and “kill all
                                                                                     Muslims, don’t even save an infant.” Authorities react-
reported incidents in 2018 alone.                                                    ed by blocking four social media platforms that they
                                                                                     said were amplifying hate speech.

                            Jailing dissidents for spreading false news              India leads the world in the number of internet
                            Many governments are enforcing criminal penalties        shutdowns, with over 100 reported incidents in 2018
                            for the publication of what they deem false news. In     alone. Users in the state of Tamil Nadu shared a video
                            2018, 13 countries prosecuted citizens for spreading     showing a child being kidnapped by a masked motor-
                            false information. Rwandan blogger Joseph Nkusi was      cyclist on WhatsApp, along with an audio message
                            sentenced in March 2018 to 10 years in prison for        warning that 200 “Hindi-speaking” child kidnappers
                            incitement to civil disobedience and the spreading       were entering the state. The video was actually from
                            of rumors, having questioned the state’s narrative on    a public-service announcement against child kid-
                            the 1994 genocide and criticized the lack of political   napping in Karachi, Pakistan. Mobs killed at least two
                            freedom in the country. Police in Bangladesh arrested    people and physically assaulted several others who
                            media activist Shahidul Alam only hours after he live-   were mistaken for kidnappers.
                            streamed a video on Facebook in which he decried a
                            disproportionate crackdown on protesters in August.      Shutdowns are a blunt instrument for interrupting the
                            Alam faces a prison sentence of up to seven years for    spread of disinformation online. By cutting off service
                            spreading false news against the government under        during such incidents, governments often deny entire
                            the ICT Act, which has been invoked to detain dozens     cities and provinces access to communication tools
                            of social media users over the past year.                at a time when they may need them the most, wheth-

                            12
Freedom House

er to dispel rumors, check in with family members, or        ongoing pressure in the United States to rescind “safe
avoid dangerous areas. In practice, shutdowns serve          harbor” protections in Section 230 of the Communi-
as a substitute for more effective policymaking to           cations Decency Act. Without the provision, compa-
counter online manipulation without disproportionate         nies that make mistakes when attempting to remove
restrictions on freedom of expression and access to          banned content could be held liable for allowing illegal
information.                                                 activities on their platforms, encouraging them to
                                                             err on the side of censorship rather than protecting
Outsourcing censorship to                                    legitimate expression.
social media companies
Even in democracies with a high level of digital literacy,   The promise of broad collaboration
it is often hard to distinguish between trusted sources      to counter disinformation
from one’s own community and information created             More constructive solutions arise out of collabora-
by a fake-news factory in Macedonia, a troll army in         tion among civil society groups, governments, and
Russia, or an intelligence unit in Iran. Policymakers        tech companies. Italian lawmakers have partnered
have focused their ire on tech companies for failing to      with journalists and tech firms to pilot a nationwide
keep fraudulent content off their platforms, or con-         curriculum on spotting online manipulation. In the
versely, for taking down posts or curating news in a way     US, several states have passed or proposed laws to
that seems to privilege certain political leanings. US       increase media literacy programs in local schools.
president Donald Trump—who popularized the term              The civic education initiatives include efforts to
“fake news” as a smear for outlets that report critically    teach students to evaluate the credibility of online
on his policies—claimed in August that Google search         media sources and identify disinformation. Many of
results for the term “Trump News” are “rigged” to            the laws require state education officials to engage
promote negative articles. Such controversies demon-         with media literacy organizations in the creation of
strate the challenges faced by tech companies that           their curriculums, and are based on model legislation
are compelled to make difficult decisions about what         backed by civil society experts. WhatsApp, which is
constitutes appropriate speech. The task is especially       owned by Facebook, is working together with seven
fraught given that they lack the transparency, account-      organizations in India to draft a digital literacy train-
ability, and public input associated with governmental       ing program for its users.
or judicial decision-making in a democracy.

Some democracies have increased companies’ legal             Some democracies have increased
liability for third-party content appearing on their plat-
forms, hoping that this will force them to police illegal
                                                             companies’ legal liability for third-party
speech. The European Union is currently mulling rules
that would require social media companies to remove
                                                             content appearing on their platforms,
content that violates the laws of its 28 member              hoping that this will force them to
states. The initiative came as Germany’s Social Media
Enforcement Law (known as NetzDG) came into force            police illegal speech.
last October, obliging social media platforms with over
two million local users to monitor and remove “obvi-         Social media companies are also working with civil
ously illegal content” or face fines of up to €50 million.   society to identify disinformation on their platforms.
Dozens of different German laws contain provisions           Facebook’s collaboration with DFRLab at the Atlantic
limiting certain forms of expression, from defamation        Council in the United States led to the discovery of
of religion to depictions of violence. It is left to the     fake accounts controlled by entities in Russia and
companies to interpret these statutes and take action,       Iran. Comprova, an initiative by the nonprofit First
affecting users without any due process or prior             Draft and the Brazilian Association of Investigative
approval from a court. Imposing similar requirements         Journalists (ABRAJI), brings together 24 Brazilian
on tech companies across the EU would likely result          news outlets to identify and counter disinformation
in greater confusion and missteps that could unduly          ahead of the country’s elections. The project marks
harm freedom of expression.                                  the first time a journalists’ association has been
                                                             granted access to WhatsApp’s business API (applica-
Protections against intermediary liability are also          tion programming interface), which will improve the
eroding on the other side of the Atlantic. There is          group’s ability to reach audiences on the platform.

www.freedomhouse.org                                                                                                13
FREEDOM                     The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
ON THE NET
2018

Lebanese people gather
to stage a protest at
Samir Kassir Square
in Beirut after security
forces took social media
users into police custody
in July 2018. (Photo by
Wassim Samih Seifed-
dine/Anadolu Agency/
Getty Images)

                            Through a partnership with Facebook, the Argentin-        often blurred. But forcing private companies to do the
                            ean organization “Chequeado” runs a bot that auto-        same—without proper safeguards—can also damage
                            matically matches media claims on the network with        individual rights, reducing transparency and due pro-
                            fact-checking research.                                   cess while allowing public officials to shift the blame
                                                                                      for any abuses.
                            These examples of cooperation show how govern-
                            ment, civil society, and tech companies can play a        Such problems can be mitigated if local laws on
                            productive and healthy role in protecting the digital     illegal content respect international human rights
                                                                                      norms, companies’ content moderation practices
                            sphere from manipulation. Governments should use
                                                                                      are transparent, and users have an avenue for ap-
                            caution when asking the private sector to perform
                                                                                      peal against improper deletions. Whenever possible,
                            a task that they are unwilling and unable to perform
                                                                                      companies should establish a mechanism for input
                            themselves: Proactively or preemptively assessing the
                                                                                      from civil society experts in the countries where
                            legality of billions of online posts would require mas-
                                                                                      they operate. Social media firms can also incorpo-
                            sive additional resources and constitute a worrying
                                                                                      rate democratic principles into their decision-mak-
                            intrusion of the government into social media, where
                                                                                      ing by promoting public participation and open
                            the line between public and private communication is      deliberation, ensuring that policies are implement-
                                                                                      ed in a way that does not violate the human rights
Protecting the digital commons from                                                   of their users.

manipulation without harming human                                                    For democracy to thrive, citizens must have freedom

rights will require innovation and                                                    of expression and access to a public forum that allows
                                                                                      rational discourse. Protecting the digital commons
increased investments from states, tech                                               from manipulation without harming human rights will
                                                                                      require innovation and increased investments from
companies, and civil society alike.                                                   states, tech companies, and civil society alike.

                            14
Freedom House

Authorities demand control
over personal data
In many ways, the internet erases borders. But as         companies that allow such access. Other new provi-
governments recognize the importance of the data          sions from the past year require communication apps
flowing in and out of their countries, they are estab-    to register users under their real names, so that they
lishing new rules and barriers in the name of national    can be identified by law enforcement agencies. And
sovereignty, allowing officials to control and inspect    antiterrorism provisions that came into force in July
such information at will. Governments in 18 out of        require telecommunications firms and other compa-
65 countries have passed new laws or directives to        nies to store the content of users’ online communi-
increase state surveillance since June 2017, often        cations for up to six months, in addition to metadata,
eschewing independent oversight and exposing              and provide the Federal Security Service (FSB) with
individuals to persecution or other dangers in order to   unfettered access to both.
gain unfettered access.

Some of these countries now require that tech firms
                                                          Russian authorities blocked Telegram
store their citizens’ data on local servers, with the     due to its refusal to make encrypted data
stated intention of either making the records more
accessible to national security agencies or protect-      accessible to the FSB.
ing them from theft or exploitation by others. China,
Russia, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Pakistan have already
instituted data localization requirements. The gov-       The most high-profile example of Russia’s enforce-
ernment in India, home to the world’s second-largest      ment of data sovereignty involves Telegram. The
population of internet users after China, has proposed    secure messaging app was widely used to hold private
similar rules on privacy grounds. Although the country    conversations in what is otherwise a heavily policed
scored a major victory for internet freedom when its      environment. In April, authorities blocked the service
Supreme Court ruled in August 2017 that Indians           due to its refusal to comply with laws that require
have a fundamental right to privacy, it has also been     tech companies to make encrypted data accessible
plagued by security breaches.                             to the FSB. When Telegram used various methods to
                                                          overcome the initial blocking, the state internet regu-
On the surface, data localization appears to be a         lator ordered the obstruction of at least 18 million IP
rational response to such concerns, but it makes little   (internet protocol) addresses in an escalating game of
difference to transnational hackers whether Indians’      whack-a-mole, bringing down news sites, smart tele-
personal data are located in Bangalore or Boston.         vision sets, and even airline ticketing systems in the
Moreover, Indian authorities have already proven to       process. Telegram’s self-exiled founder, Pavel Durov,
be poor custodians of citizens’ information. In 2018,     had previously sold off VKontakte, Russia’s most pop-
researchers discovered a number of breaches in            ular social media company, amid growing pressure to
India’s national biometric database, named Aadhar,        provide the government with information on its users.
leaving the data of 1.1 billion people vulnerable to      With Telegram, he vowed to create new social media
identity thieves and other malicious actors. The scan-    technology that would be far more resistant to state
dal demonstrated the urgent need for reforms to the       control.
country’s data protection framework, beyond simply
requiring that data be stored locally.                    Intelligence agencies afraid of going dark
                                                          Though their motives and methods differ from those
The Kremlin’s intrusive gaze                              of the Kremlin, democratic governments are voicing
Russia took significant steps over the past year to       their own determination to overcome encryption
increase data sovereignty. Lawmakers passed restric-      when national security is at stake. Government minis-
tions on virtual private networks (VPNs) in July 2017,    ters of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence alliance—
ostensibly to prevent users from accessing banned         Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom,
sites that are hosted outside the country. A subse-       and the United States—released a statement calling
quent bill introduced this year includes fines for VPN    on companies to “voluntarily establish lawful access

www.freedomhouse.org                                                                                           15
FREEDOM ON THE NET 2018

United States                                                                           Iceland

                       Canada

                                                                                                  United Kingom

                                                                                                                   Ger

                                                                                                        France

                     United States

                                                                                                                     T
                                                                                              Morocco

                          Mexico
                                            Cuba

                                                                                     The Gambia                   Niger
                                                    Venezuela

                                              Colombia

                                      Ecuador

                                                                 Brazil

                                                     Argentina

                                     FREE                PARTLY FREE      NOT FREE        NOT ASSESSED

                16
Russia

                     Estonia

                     Belarus
rmany
                        Ukraine
                                                             Kazakhstan

          Hungary
 Italy                         Georgia
                                             Azerbaijan                   Kyrgyzstan
                       Turkey                             Uzbekistan
                                  Armenia                                                                                                        Japan
                                                                                                                           South Korea
Tunisia                           Syria                                                                China
                     Lebanon                     Iran

                                 Jordan
      Libya                                  Bahrain           Pakistan
                      Egypt
                                                     UAE
                                                                          India        Bangladesh
                                      Saudi Arabia
                                                                                       Myanmar
                      Sudan                                                                         Thailand
                                                                                                               Vietnam

ria                                                                                                  Cambodia                  Philippines
                                  Ethiopia
                                                                                                        Malaysia
                                                                              Sri Lanka
                  Uganda
                                                                                            Singapore
                                  Kenya
               Rwanda                                                                                              Indonesia

  Angola                        Malawi
                  Zambia
                     Zimbabwe

                                                                                                                                     Australia

              South Africa

              Status                Countries
              FREE                            15
              PARTLY FREE                     30            Freedom on the Net 2018 assessed 65 countries
              NOT FREE                        20            around the globe.
              Total                           65

              www.freedomhouse.org                                                                                                                       17
FREEDOM      The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism
ON THE NET
2018

             solutions” for encrypted content or face possible              defense, thus failing to curtail rampant data collec-
             government attempts to break into their systems.               tion by governments. Uncertainties remain over how
             The latest draft surveillance bill in Australia contains       several articles will be implemented in practice, such
             vague language that could require companies to build           as a provision that could allow a company’s “legitimate
             “back doors” into their encryption technology. Such a          interests” to supersede a person’s right to privacy. And
             policy would effectively create security vulnerabilities       the rules incorporate the EU’s problematic “right to be
             in the companies’ services, driving away users and             forgotten,” under which public figures have attempted
             facilitating intrusions not just by friendly governments,      to delete articles or data they deem to be unflattering.
             but by hostile powers and criminals as well.
                                                                            Nevertheless, the GDPR is one of the most ambi-
             The governments of France, Germany, Hungary,                   tious attempts to regulate data collection in the 21st
             and the United Kingdom have also ramped up the                 century. It applies to all companies and organizations
             surveillance powers of their intelligence services with        that process data on Europeans, compelling firms
             the aim of disrupting terrorist networks. While this is        around the world to change their privacy policies and
             intended to protect citizens’ safety, it often weakens         terms of service before the implementation deadline.
             crucial judicial oversight meant to protect their basic        Numerous data-mining companies simply halted their
             rights. Italy passed a law in November 2017 that               operations in an implicit admission that their practic-
             requires telecommunications operators to store tele-           es could not withstand scrutiny under the new rules.
             phone and internet data for up to six years, despite a
             2014 EU Court of Justice ruling that such rules consti-        The GDPR also created a framework for the free
             tuted a disproportionate infringement on privacy.              movement of personal data within the EU’s 28 member
                                                                            states, and in any other country that institutes a high

Democratic governments are voicing                                          level of personal data protection. EU officials have
                                                                            moved to lift any data localization requirements within
their own determination to overcome                                         the bloc, such as those previously put in place by Ger-
                                                                            many. The EU has entered talks with Japan to allow for
encryption when national security                                           frictionless data exchanges with that country. Howev-
                                                                            er, an existing deal with the United States, known as
is at stake.                                                                Privacy Shield, has come under increased pressure this
                                                                            year from members of the European Parliament who
             The privacy policy update felt around                          worry that EU citizens’ data are not afforded the same
             the world                                                      protections when processed in the US.
             In response to fears about ubiquitous collection
             and the inherent insecurity of personal data, many             Protecting user data on a global internet
             countries are enacting legislation that grants individ-        Governments, private companies, and researchers are
             uals the right to control how their data are collected,        increasingly hungry for large amounts of personal in-
             processed, and shared by public and private entities.          formation, using it for purposes ranging from political
             At least 15 countries considered data protection laws          repression to the development of artificial intelligence
             since June 2017, and at least 35 already have a data           algorithms. Individuals often have few options for re-
             protection law on the books.                                   sisting this demand, short of disengaging from major
                                                                            aspects of modern life.
             The data protection laws that have been proposed or
             passed in Argentina, Brazil, and Indonesia bear a strong       Rather than forcing users to make such a stark choice,
             resemblance to the EU’s General Data Protection Regu-          governments and technology companies should strive
             lation (GDPR), which came into effect in May 2018.             to increase transparency regarding how personal data
                                                                            are used, enable data portability between platforms,
             The GDPR requires data holders to obtain more mean-            and allow people to review and delete all data col-
             ingful consent, increase transparency about what data          lected about them—steps that some of the largest
             are collected and why, and provide a way for users to          companies have already taken.
             download, transfer, or delete their information.
                                                                            One innovative national model can be found in Estonia,
             It is not a silver bullet for digital rights. The regulation   a country that tied with Iceland for the best internet
             does not apply to matters of national security and             freedom score in this survey. Its X-Road platform for

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