Taiwan ranks 1st in Asia, 7th globally for internet freedom: Report

Taipei, Oct. 17 (CNA) Taiwan ranked seventh out of 72 countries and first in Asia for internet freedom, while China remained at the bottom of the list, according to an annual report released Wednesday by the U.S.-based non-profit organization Freedom House.

The organization's 2024 "Freedom on the Net" report assessed internet freedom based on data collected from June 2023 to May 2024 in terms of obstacles people face accessing the internet, banned content and violations of users' rights.

Taiwan scored 79 out of 100, ranking seventh globally. Iceland came in first (94) for the sixth straight year, followed by Estonia (92), Canada (86), Chile (86), Costa Rica (85) and the Netherlands (83).

Among Asian countries, Taiwan topped the list, while Japan came eighth globally (78), South Korea ranked 21st (66), while China and Myanmar were tied in last place, scoring only 9 out of 100.

Taiwan's score increased by one point from last year, when it ranked sixth with a score of 78. In 2022, it was tied fifth place globally with a score of 79.

Taiwan

According to the report, Taiwan "hosts one of the freest online environments in Asia" and has an information landscape "characterized by affordable internet access, diverse content, and a lack of internet shutdowns."

However, concerns about "overbroad and nontransparent website blocking" and "disproportionate surveillance" were also highlighted in the report.

Specifically, the report said that Taiwanese government agencies relied on a nontransparent website blocking mechanism, called DNS Response Policy Zone, and had also submitted a growing number of content removal requests to Google and Meta.

Internet freedom was also affected by influence operations and cyberattacks ahead of Taiwan's January elections, the report said, adding that many of these were linked to Chinese state-affiliated actors.

Global results and trends

The report found that internet freedom had declined overall for the 14th consecutive year and that of the 72 countries evaluated, protections for online human rights diminished in 27 countries, with only 18 showing improvements.

By category, 19 of the countries were ranked in the "free" category, while 32 were "partly free" and 21 were considered "not free."

The largest decline in internet freedom since the previous report published last year occurred in Kyrgyzstan, where the government intensified its efforts to silence digital media and suppress online organizing, resulting in Freedom House lowering the central Asian country's score by four points.