Freedom on the Net is an annual report providing analytical reports and numerical ratings regarding the state of Internet freedom for countries worldwide, published by the American non-profit research and advocacy group Freedom House.^[1] The countries surveyed represent a sample with a broad range of geographical diversity and levels of economic development, as well as varying levels of political and media freedom.

Methodology

The surveys ask a set of questions designed to measure each country's level of Internet and digital media freedom, as well as the access and openness of other digital means of transmitting information, particularly mobile phones and text messaging services. Results are presented for three areas:^{[2] p.31}

• Obstacles to Access: infrastructural and economic barriers to access; governmental efforts to block specific applications or technologies; legal and ownership control over internet and mobile phone access providers.
• Limits on Content: filtering and blocking of websites; other forms of censorship and self-censorship; manipulation of content; the diversity of online news media; and usage of digital media for social and political activism.
• Violations of User Rights: legal protections and restrictions on online activity; surveillance and limits on privacy; and repercussions for online activity, such as legal prosecution, imprisonment, physical attacks, or other forms of harassment.

The results from the three areas are combined into a total score for a country (from 100 for "Most Free" to 0 for "Least Free") and countries are rated as "Free" (100 to 70), "Partly Free" (69 to 40), or "Not Free" (39 to 0) based on the totals.^{[2] p.31}

Results

Starting in 2009 Freedom House has produced eleven editions of the report.^{[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} There was no report in 2010. The reports generally cover the period from June through May.

2020 results

Freedom on the Net 2020^[2]
  Free ·   Partly free ·   Not free

Country	Score
Iceland	95
Estonia	94
Canada	87
Germany	80
United Kingdom	78
France	77
Australia	76
Georgia	76
Italy	76
United States	76
Armenia	75
Japan	75
Argentina	71
Hungary	71
South Africa	70
Kenya	67
Colombia	66
South Korea	66
Philippines	64
Tunisia	64
Brazil	63
Angola	62
Mexico	61
Ukraine	61
Malawi	60
Nigeria	60
Zambia	59
Malaysia	58
Ecuador	57
Kyrgyzstan	56
Uganda	56
Singapore	54
Lebanon	52
Morocco	52
Sri Lanka	52
India	51
Libya	50
Indonesia	49
Jordan	49
The Gambia	49
Zimbabwe	46
Cambodia	43
Bangladesh	42
Rwanda	39
Azerbaijan	38
Belarus	38
Thailand	35
Turkey	35
Kazakhstan	32
Myanmar	31
Russia	30
Sudan	30
Bahrain	29
Ethiopia	29
United Arab Emirates	29
Venezuela	28
Uzbekistan	27
Egypt	26
Pakistan	26
Saudi Arabia	26
Cuba	22
Vietnam	22
Syria	17
Iran	15
China	10

Comparison with Other Datasets

Several other organizations measure internet freedom, such as the V-Dem Institute, Access Now, and the OpenNet Initiative.^{[14][15][16][17]} V-Dem's Digital Society project measures a range of questions related to internet censorship, misinformation online, and internet shutdowns using surveys of experts.^[15] Access Now maintains an annual list of internet shutdowns, throttling, and blockages as part of the #KeepItOn project.^[14] The OpenNet Initiative formerly kept data on internet censorship of particular websites.^[17] Freedom on the Net's report covers a range of concepts that the other datasets do not, such as new legislation passed, but lacks the country coverage of other datasets.^[2][16]

Expert surveys such as Freedom House and V-Dem have been found to be more prone to false positives (they are more likely to find uncorroborated instances of censorship).^[18] While remote sensing such as the kind done by Access Now and OpenNet Initiative are more likely to be prone to false negatives (they may miss some instances of real censorship).^[19]

The Millennium Challenge Corporation used the Key Internet Controls portion of the Freedom on the Net report to inform its country selection process until 2020 when this report was replaced with data on internet shutdowns from Access Now.^[20][21]

References