Internet Freedom in India improves after 4 years of decline: Freedom House

Internet Freedom in India improves after 4 years of decline: Following efforts to close the digital divide in the nation, the US government-funded NGO Freedom House increased India’s internet freedom score by two points to 51 in the global ranking. The improved score is also due to a decrease in the frequency and severity of internet outages in the country.

What do you understand by the term Internet freedom?

• The term “internet freedom” refers to a range of subjects, including digital rights, informational freedom, the right to access the internet, freedom from internet censorship, and net neutrality.
• According to Freedom on the Net 2022, after four years of decline, internet freedom in India somewhat increased over the last year as attempts to close the nation’s digital divides increased access to the internet. Although the government still shuts down the internet, they are less frequent and less severe now.
• India scored 49 in terms of internet freedom in 2021. But in 2022, it has improved two points to 51.

How the score has improved?

NGO said that the rise in the Internet Freedom score was a result of social media giants’ increasing resistance to the government as a result of public pressure. Additionally, between June 2021 and May 2022, there were no (or very limited) technical attacks on news organisations, government critics, or civil society, nor were there any legislation that mandated censorship or imposed penalties.

Legal challenges to legislation allowing the government to censor online content, particularly those that violate the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, have  seen limits imposed on some powers.

Key findings of the report

• The Freedom on the Net 2022: Countering an Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet report finds that the internet is more fragmented than ever, with a number of governments imposing restrictions on what billions of people can access and share online—whether by blocking foreign websites, storing personal data, or exerting increased control over their countries’ technical infrastructure.
• According to the US government-funded NGO, global internet freedom has fallen for the 12th straight year, with the biggest declines observed in Russia, Myanmar, Sudan, and Libya.
• Improvements in internet freedom were observed in 26 nations. The Gambia (+3) and Zimbabwe (+3) experienced two of the largest improvements.
• China continued to have the worst internet freedom conditions in the world for the eighth year in a row, while internet freedom in the United States somewhat improved for the first time in six years.
• According to the report on internet freedom in the USA, in comparison to the previous year, there were less occurrences of targeted surveillance and internet harassment during protests. As a result, the nation is currently ranked ninth globally, tied with Australia and France. Policymakers made little headway in passing other internet freedom-related laws, and the US still lacks a comprehensive federal privacy law,