Pakistan has scored a dismal 26 on the scale of 100 in the Freedom on the Net 2022 report, languishing on the list of the countries where internet freedom continues to decline for the 12th consecutive year.
The report, titled Freedom on the Net 2022: Countering an Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet, has been released by Freedom House, a Washington-based advocacy and research organisation. The Freedom on the Net report assesses the situation for free internet in 70 countries from June 2021 to May 2022, pointing out government restrictions, content limitations, and other barriers that hindered access to digital resources during the reporting period.
Pakistan scored 26 on the scale of 0 (least free) to 100 (most free), just one point up from last year’s score of 25/100. In Pakistan, internet freedom continued to suffer with the government’s repeated attempts to exercise excessive control over the online environment, according top the report, which outlines internet shutdowns, blocking of social media platforms, arrests and harsh convictions to suppress unwanted speech online in the country.
“The Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Content (Procedure, Oversight, and Safeguards) Rules were passed during the coverage period and dramatically expand authorities’ control over the online information space,” says the report. “Online activists and journalists are often subjected to harassment, including some cases of physical assaults and enforced disappearances.”
Between May 2021 and June 2022, increased taxes on mobile phones, connectivity restrictions in parts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, content removals under vague and subjective interpretations of morality, draconian legal frameworks such as the Social Media Rules, and regressive amendments (later struck down by the court as unconstitutional) to the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2015 (PECA) further exacerbated the situation for an open and free internet in Pakistan.
Access to the internet across Pakistan was also impeded as a result of the August 2022 flooding, the report says.
Globally, the internet freedom has declined for the 12th consecutive year. According to Freedom House, the report covers about 89 per cent of the world’s internet users. Those living in “free” countries make up only 18 per cent of the total population, 34 per cent have access to a “partly free” internet, and 37 per cent users live in countries where the internet is “not free”.
Read the full report here.
