Freedom on the Net 2025: Uncertain Future of the Global Internet

An Uncertain Future for the Global Internet | Freedom House 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 
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 An Uncertain Future for the Global Internet 

 Countries 

 Map 

 Key Internet Controls 

 Policy Recommendations 

 Acknowledgements 

 Methodology 

 
 
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 Freedom on the Net
 2025
 
 An Uncertain Future for the Global Internet

 
 
 
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 The immediate future of internet freedom will depend on how governments deploy incentives for and controls over the next wave of technological innovation. 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 Written by 
 
 
 Kian Vesteinsson
 
 
 Grant Baker
 
 
 

 

 Key Findings 

 Global internet freedom declined for the 15th consecutive year. Of the 72 countries assessed in Freedom on the Net 2025 , conditions deteriorated in 28, while 17 countries registered overall gains. Kenya experienced the most severe decline of the coverage period, after authorities responded to nationwide protests over tax policy in June 2024 by shutting down internet connectivity for around seven hours and arresting hundreds of protesters. Bangladesh earned the year’s strongest improvement, as a student-led uprising ousted the country’s repressive leadership in August 2024 and an interim government made positive reforms. China and Myanmar remained the world’s worst environments for internet freedom, while Iceland held its place as the freest online environment. 

 Half of the 18 countries with an internet freedom status of Free suffered score declines during the coverage period. Only three countries in this group received improvements. People in Georgia experienced the most significant decline in the Free cohort, followed by Germany and the United States, as the ruling Georgian Dream party enacted repressive measures targeting civil society. Authorities in Germany pursued criminal prosecutions against people who criticized politicians, while threats from far-right actors further encouraged self-censorship online. In the United States , growing restrictions on civic space threatened to stifle digital activism, marked by the detention of foreign nationals for nonviolent online expression. 

 Control over online information has become an essential tool for authoritarian leaders seeking to entrench their regimes. Governments in the countries that suffered the most extreme declines over the 15 years of global deterioration in internet freedom—Egypt, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela—intensified their control over the online environment in response to challenges to their rule. Authorities in these settings expanded restrictions on content, escalated surveillance of electronic communications, and imposed more severe penalties on those 

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