A report published by independent watchdog organization Freedom House titled “Silencing the Messenger: Communication Apps under Pressure.” has revealed that in Africa, only South Africa and Kenya had complete Internet freedom in 2016.
Out of a score of 100, South Africa and Kenya rank at 25 and 29 respectively.
Internet penetration in South Africa is 52 percent, while in Kenya it’s 46 percent.
There were a total of 65 global countries studied in the survey. Among these, 16 were in Africa, including Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Tunisia, and South Africa.
Nigeria has partial Internet freedom due to its arrests of “netizens,” such as bloggers and ICT users who criticized President Jonathan Goodluck’s administration, while Uganda’s Internet freedom has gotten worse since June last year.
For Uganda, it is because the government blocked social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp.
Ethiopia no longer has any Internet freedom, after registering a score of 83 out of 100. It has an internet penetration levels is only 12 percent and it recently blocked access to the Internet following months of clashes between the police and the Oromo and Amhara ethnic communities.
Find the entire report here: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/freedom-net-2016
When you define “internet freedom” as access to faKebook, whatsapp and twitter, I despair. There is TONNES of information on the internet and yet we define the lack of access to the above three as lack of freedom?
Did you know facebook, whatsapp and twitter were only blocked on mobile phones? Did you know those who used these platforms on computer never noticed a block?
When you define access to internet as access to three privately owned web applications of which two are well known for lobbying governments as well as funding NGOs in order to gain more access, don’t you thing something is wrong?