According to a new report by a group responsible for monitoring internet freedom, Freedom House, governments are seeking greater control over user data, while using laws nominally designed to deal with fake news. This is the eighth year in a row that Freedom House has detected a decline in online freedoms worldwide.
"The clear theme emerging in this report is the growing recognition that the internet, once seen as a liberating technology, is increasingly being used to disrupt democracies as opposed to destabilizing dictatorships," said Mike Abramowitz, president of Freedom House. reporters. "Propaganda and disinformation are increasingly poisoning the digital sphere, and authoritarians and populists are using the fight against fake news as a pretext to arrest prominent journalists and social media critics, often through laws that criminalize the dissemination of information. false."
Internet freedom fell in 2018 in the United States due to the repeal of net neutrality rules by the Federal Communications Commission. Other countries were even worse off. Of the 65 countries analyzed, 17 of them loved laws that restricted online media. In total, 13 citizens were prosecuted for spreading fake news. In addition, more countries are accepting training and technology from China, which Freedom House notes as a way to export a system of censorship and surveillance across the country.
The report criticizes Sri Lanka and India, which limit or even shut down internet access in response to the outbreak of ethnic and religious conflicts. In both cases there were records of people who were killed by false information spread on the network.
"Cutting off internet service is a draconian response, particularly at a time when citizens need it most, whether it's to dispel rumors, check in with loved ones or avoid dangerous areas," said Adrian Shahbaz, director of technology research and democracy. "While deliberately falsified content is a genuine problem, some governments are increasingly using 'fake news' as a pretense to consolidate their control over information and suppress dissent."
Source: The Verge
