Freedom House leaves Uzbekistan in the list of countries without free internet 

A Freedom House report on global internet freedom ranked Uzbekistan as a country without a free internet, the Republic scored 28 out of a 100-point evaluation indicators.

The international human rights organization Freedom House has published a report that reflects the level of internet freedom in countries from June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021.

Reportedly, the results on global internet freedom are declining for the 11th time in a row. The human rights situation has deteriorated in 30 countries. The biggest decline occurred in Myanmar. It is followed by Belarus and Uganda. Also, the biggest improvements in this regard were observed in Ecuador and Gambia.

According to the report, Uzbekistan is one of the countries without free internet and scored 28 out of 100 points.

These ratings are based on 9 different categories of incidents:

• social networks or communication platforms are blocked;
• political, social or religious content is blocked;
• ICT networks are intentionally disrupted;
• pro-government commentators manipulated online discussions;
• a new law or normative legal act strengthening censorship has been adopted;
• a new law or regulation has been enacted that enhances surveillance or restricts anonymity;
• a blogger or network user who has created political or social content on the internet has been arrested;
• a blogger or network user has been physically assaulted;
• there have been technical attacks on government critics or human rights organizations.

All of the above were observed during the reporting period in only 2 countries (Uzbekistan and China). 

The remaining post-Soviet countries – Georgia (77), Armenia (71), Ukraine (62), Kyrgyzstan (63), Azerbaijan (35), Kazakhstan (33) and Russia (30), have been assessed accordingly.

Iceland leads the ranking with 96 points out of 100. The TOP-5 also includes Estonia, Canada, Costa Rica and Taiwan.

For information, in the report published by Freedom House in 2020, the level of freedom in Uzbekistan was rated 11 out of 100 points, and Uzbekistan remained among the “not free countries”. In terms of Internet freedom, Uzbekistan is one of the countries where the Internet is not free, gaining 27 out of 100 points.