If you have ever complained about a blocked website, this global map might make you wanna think twice.
A new report from Cloudwards, written by Kit Copson and facts checked by Simona Ivanovski, ranks internet freedom across the globe. The study measures torrenting, adult content, political and civic expression and VPN access. Countries receive a score from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the fewer the restrictions.
11 countries are at the top with a score of 92. According to Cloudwards, these include Belgium, Costa Rica, Timor Leste and New Zealand, and more, across four continents. In these places, social media, VPNs and political expression online are fully accessible. Torrenting is restricted because of copyright law, but there are no blocks on adult content or civic debate.
New Zealand is the only country in Oceania to reach 92. Australia scores 64. The United States also lands on 64, placing it in the middle tier alongside South Africa and Japan. Internet freedom is not limited to one region. High scoring countries appear across Europe, Latin America, Asia and Oceania.
Which Countries Face The Toughest Controls?
At the bottom of the ranking, the reality is quite hectic…
North Korea scores 0. Cloudwards explains that only a small group of trusted elites can access the global internet. Most citizens use “Kwangmyong”, a closed national intranet.
Russia, Pakistan, Iran and China each score 4. None of these countries were marked fully accessible in any of the four categories measured. Social media platforms such as X, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok are blocked or temporarily blocked. Expressing unwelcome political opinions online can carry heavy consequences.
Countries scoring 20 or below are spread across Asia, Africa and Europe. Belarus is the only European country in this lowest bracket. Public criticism of the regime is not tolerated there, and websites including human rights platforms are often blocked as “extremist”. VPN services face bans, although many citizens continue to use them to bypass restrictions.
In the Middle East and North Africa, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt score 12. Iraq scores 16. Political and civic expression online is restricted or banned in these countries. VPN use is completely illegal in Iraq and Turkmenistan. Penalties can mean fines or imprisonment.
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Where Does The UK Land?
The United Kingdom scores 52 out of 100, placing it in the mid to lower tier globally.
According to Cloudwards, the UK has restrictions on torrenting, adult content and political and civic expression. VPNs and social media are fully accessible. The country ranks alongside Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan and Zambia.
This score may surprise those who view the UK as digitally open. Torrenting copyrighted material is illegal, and adult sites are subject to age verification rules. The report also marks political and civic online expression as restricted. That does not mean social media is blocked. It means access can be subject to legal limits and enforcement.
Compared with the United States at 64 and New Zealand at 92, the UK sits noticeably lower on the table.
How Did Cloudwards Calculate The Scores?
Cloudwards gathered data from OONI Explorer, Freedom House, government notices, court rulings and regulatory disclosures.
Each country was assessed across 4 categories. Access was marked as fully accessible, restricted, banned, or restricted and banned. A fully accessible category scored 1.0. Restricted scored 0.6. Banned scored 0.2. Restricted and banned scored 0.0. The results were then normalised to a 1 to 100 scale.
The study also explains why censorship happens. Reasons range from limiting hate speech to controlling political dissent. In highly restrictive locations, internet monitoring and content blocking are tools used to control narratives. Consequences for breaching these laws differ from country to country. They can mean fines or prison.
One finding says torrenting is the most targeted category worldwide. It is not fully accessible anywhere because of copyright laws. Even the ‘freest’ countries draw a line there.
