How many people are censored

Azerbaijan 6. Vietnam 7. Iran 8. China 9. Myanmar The government controls the Internet and all media in Eritrea, creating a restrictive environment for the press. Eritrea Leadership : President Isaias Afewerki, in power since How censorship works : Only state media is allowed to disseminate news; the last accredited international correspondent was expelled in Even those working for the heavily censored state press live in constant fear of arrest for any report perceived as critical to the ruling party, or on suspicion that they leaked information outside the country.

The last privately owned media outlets were suspended and their journalists jailed in Many remain behind bars; Eritrea has the most jailed journalists in Africa.

None of those arrested are taken to court, and the fear of arrest has forced dozens of journalists into exile. Those in exile try to provide access to independent online news websites and radio broadcasts, but the opportunity to do so is limited because of signal jamming and tight online control by the sole state-run telecommunications company, EriTel.

All mobile communications must go through EriTel, and all Internet service providers must use the government-controlled gateway. Access to the Internet is extremely limited and available only through slow dial-up connections. Less than 1 percent of the population goes online, according to U. International Telecommunication Union figures. Lowlight : Five independent journalists who were arrested in may have died in prison, according to recent exiles.

With limited access to information in Eritrea, CPJ cannot independently confirm the deaths and continues to list the journalists on its prison census as a means of holding the government accountable for their fate. Internet is restricted to the political elite, but some schools and state institutions have access to a tightly controlled intranet called Kwangmyong, according to the AP. North Koreans looking for independent information have turned to bootlegged foreign TV and radio signals and smuggled foreign DVDs, particularly along the porous border with China.

Although cell phones are banned, some citizens have been able in recent years to access news through smuggled phones, which rely on Chinese cell towers. South Korean newspapers have reported that North Korea in started manufacturing smartphones that run on a network built by the Egyptian company Orascom and the state-owned Korea Post and Telecommunications Corp. Traders in street markets are regularly seen with 3G phones that can support video exchange and texting, according to travelers returning from North Korea.

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In reality, though, what is allowed in one country is very different to that allowed in another. The organisation ranks each country by its internet freedom: 0 is the best, is worst.

The areas in darkest red score the highest, in other words, have the least internet freedom. China, for instance, scores 88, and South Africa The study found that internet freedom around the world declined in for the sixth consecutive year, and that many people are being punished for their use of social media. Authorities in 38 countries made arrests based on social media posts over the past year.

The limited scope of these approaches also means that efforts are often focused on countries already known for censorship, enabling nations that are perceived as freer to fly under the radar. While censorship efforts generally start small, Sundara Raman says they could have big implications in a world that is increasingly dependent on the internet for essential communication needs.

We fear this could lead to a future where every country has a completely different view of the internet. The research was supported in part by the U.

Clarifications: This story has been updated to include additional nuance about the research, including: The names of the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post websites were removed from the subhead and the body of the story because the instance of blocking was only observed in one network and may be a case of misconfiguration rather than censorship. Ann Arbor, MI Email umichnews umich. Kyl's report detailed recommendations to improve transparency, and Facebook agreed to create an oversight board for content removal decisions.

Facebook said it "would continue to examine, and where necessary adjust, our own policies and practices in the future. According to Fernandez, the focus should be on requiring tech companies to publicly reveal their moderation rules and tactics. Benesch points out, "We have virtually zero oversight regarding take-down, so in truth content moderation is more complicated than just take it down or leave it up," referring to the fact that, to date, there has been little publicly available data provided by tech companies to allow an evaluation of the process.

We work with external experts and affected communities around the world to develop our policies and have a global team dedicated to enforcing them," Facebook said in a statement.

And a statement from Twitter said, "Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules. In fact, from a simple business perspective and to serve the public conversation, Twitter is incentivized to keep all voices on the service. Meanwhile users like Wysinger struggle with mixed feelings about social media sites that promise connection but sometimes leave them out in the cold.

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