Iran experienced the most significant decline in internet freedom in 2023, driven by the authorities’ “disproportionate and violent” crackdown on the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement, according to Freedom House.
In a bid to quell the nationwide anti-government protests sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, the authorities arrested thousands of demonstrators, including “numerous women who used social media to express opposition to the regime’s discriminatory hijab policies,” the rights watchdog says in its annual report on the level of the Internet freedom in the world, published on October 4.
“The government also shut down internet services, blocked WhatsApp and Instagram, and expanded its repressive surveillance apparatus,” it adds.
State repression was not limited to the protests, the report says, adding that two people were “executed for alleged blasphemy after they shared their religious views on Telegram.”
The report, titled Freedom On The Net 2023, covers 70 countries around the world, ranking the Internet in three groups -- Free, Partially Free and Not Free.
Global Internet freedom declined for the 13th consecutive year in 2023, according to the report.
None of the seven Middle Eastern countries assessed are considered Free. Three — Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq — are rated Partly Free, and the remaining four — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Iran—are rated Not Free.
Iceland, Estonia, and Canada were ranked as most free.
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