CNN —For the past decade, China has consistently ranked last in the world for internet freedom due to its all-pervading online surveillance and content control system dubbed the “Great Firewall.”But a new report out Wednesday shows that internet freedoms in China’s neighbor Myanmar are now just as lacking.
The report from Freedom House, a US government-funded NGO, found that global internet freedom has declined for the 14th consecutive year.
In a record 43 countries, people were physically attacked or killed in retaliation for their online activities, the report found.
The Central Asian nation Kyrgyzstan showed the biggest drop in internet freedoms, according to the report, as President Sadyr Japarov ramped up efforts to silence digital media and suppress online organizing.
The report also covers online disinformation campaigns and political interference in the run-up to elections, including harassment of independent researchers and fact checkers.
Persons:
”, Mao Ning, Sadyr Japarov, Kloop, “
Organizations:
CNN, Freedom, Trust, United Nations, UN, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ”, Central, US
Locations:
China, China’s, Myanmar, Central Asian, Kyrgyzstan, Iceland, United States, ’