Freedom House. Armenian Internet is “partially free”

Freedom House organization published Freedom on the Net – 2017 annual report, where Armenia is considered to be a country with “partially free internet” (32 points).

The countries are classified by 0-100 points in the report, where 0 is the freest and 100 is the least free. Accordingly, countries getting 0-30 are classified as “free”, 31-60-“partially free” and 61-100 – “not free”.

Armenia got 30 points in 2016, 28 points in 2014 and 2015 and 29 points in 2013.

“Internet freedom declined in Armenia after users experienced temporary restrictions on Facebook, while online manipulation increased in the lead-up to parliamentary elections. Coordinated bots were spreading misinformation and attempting to stifle independent reporting on Twitter. Around the same time, civil society figures received Google notifications that state-backed hackers were attempting to hack their accounts,” the report reads.

Nevertheless, Freedom House states that overall, the internet remained relatively free, with gradual improvements in infrastructure and accessibility connecting more of the population.
 
“Activists regularly use social media as a tool to promote their causes, and opposition and independent media flourish online,” the report reads.

You can read the full report here.

Freedom House assessed freedom of internet and digital media in 65 countries.

Among the countries of the region Georgia is considered to be a country with internet freedom (24 points). Azerbaijan is partially free with 58 points, while neighboring Turkey (66 points) and Iran (85 points) are not free.

As last year, the internet in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus was assessed as “not free”.

According to Freedom House, China is the world’s worst abusers of internet freedom, followed by Syria and Ethiopia.

Iceland and Estonia registered the highest points among countries with free Internet (6 points each).They are followed by Canada, Germany and Australia.

You can view the full table of country scores here.