Internet freedom has declined worldwide for sixteen consecutive years, according to the newly released Freedom on the Net report from Freedom House. The findings describe a familiar but worsening pattern: governments cutting off access, jailing people for what they post, and building new tools of control, even as a handful of nations show that reversal is possible when citizens organize and old regimes fall.
Iran and Russia Lead a Grim List
The report singles out Iran for imposing the longest nationwide internet shutdown Freedom on the Net has ever recorded, a response to domestic unrest and the military confrontation with the United States and Israel. In Russia, authorities tightened their grip over internet service providers, consolidating control in ways that make censorship and surveillance easier to enforce at scale. These are not isolated cases. Freedom House notes that just 9.1 percent of the world's internet users now live in countries classified as "free," a figure that underscores how exceptional open digital access has become rather than how ordinary it should be.
The United States remains in that shrinking category, but barely. A score of 73 out of 100 puts the country only four points above the threshold for "partly free." The report attributes the decline to mass surveillance of online activists by federal authorities, the prosecution of journalists covering protests against immigration enforcement in Minnesota, and harsher penalties for online activity in various jurisdictions. The trajectory matters as much as the current standing: a steady erosion in a long-established democracy signals that no country is immune to backsliding.
Age Verification and the Privacy Trade-Off
One of the report's central concerns involves the global spread of age assurance requirements meant to shield minors from certain online content. The intent is protective, but the mechanism carries risk. Verifying a user's age often means collecting facial scans, government identification, or other sensitive personal data, creating records that did not previously exist. Freedom House warns that in countries like Turkey and China, these systems open a new avenue for abuse, allowing authorities or bad actors to build a detailed footprint of individuals' online behavior. The report also notes that despite new restrictions, children have continued to find ways onto social media platforms, suggesting that the privacy costs of these systems are not necessarily matched by their effectiveness. Policymakers, the report argues, need to work with technologists to find approaches that protect minors without compromising the anonymity and security of the broader public.
Artificial Intelligence Rules Raise Overreach Concerns
The report extends its scrutiny of artificial intelligence, examining both its use for harassment and impersonation and the regulatory responses meant to contain it. Some of those responses, Freedom House cautions, risk doing more harm than good. India introduced requirements for prominent labeling of AI-generated content while simultaneously shortening the window for platforms to remove flagged material from 36 hours to just three. Civil society groups warn this compressed timeline could push platforms toward erring on the side of removing legitimate journalism and satire rather than risking penalties. In Mexico, two online journalists were arrested under a law restricting AI-generated images and voices, despite an exemption intended for journalism, illustrating how protective laws can be turned against the very expression they claim to exempt.
Signs of Progress Amid the Decline
Not every trend points downward. Bangladesh posted its largest improvement for a second consecutive year, recording its first period free of internet shutdowns in a decade following the popular uprising that removed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024. The Gambia has continued its gradual recovery since the ousting of Yahya Jammeh, bolstered by censorship reforms and a new data protection law. Freedom House also highlights how digital tools have fueled pro-democracy mobilization in India, Iran, Hungary, Serbia, Kenya, and Cuba, even as those movements frequently face violent state retaliation.
A Report Produced With Fewer Resources
The findings arrive amid a changed funding landscape for Freedom House itself. The organization, long supported by the United States government's democracy and human rights programs, saw that funding sharply reduced under the Trump administration, forcing layoffs and a narrower research approach. This year's edition relies more heavily on staff-written summaries and a smaller pool of independent experts, rather than the broader network of over 200 local researchers previously used. Funding now comes from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Google, the Internet Society, the New York Community Trust, and a partnership with the Rutgers Democracy Lab. "We've made good progress to stabilize Freedom on the Net in this new funding environment, though it required the difficult decision to scale back the scope of the 2026 edition," said Kian Vesteinsson, deputy director for research at Freedom House. He added that he remains hopeful additional donors will step forward, particularly as the rise of agentic AI makes independent research on digital rights more urgent than ever.
