Internet watchdogs generally agreed that Internet freedom declined once again in 2024 – the fourteenth loss in a row, according to Freedom House.

The major drivers of declining Internet freedom over the past year were the rise of military juntas, the spread of Islamist speech codes, and the general tightening of authoritarian rule – including authoritarianism spreading across the formerly free world, especially in the United Kingdom.

The annual “Freedom on the Net” (FOTN) report from Freedom House sadly observed that Myanmar’s military junta now rivals Communist China as “the world’s worst environment for Internet freedom.”