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Illustration by Mitch Blunt
Dear John,
Internet freedom is facing a critical moment.
Our new report released today, Freedom on the Net 2025: An Uncertain Future for the Global Internet
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, analyzes 15 years of Freedom House data on internet freedom. It finds that governments have deployed increasingly advanced and widespread measures to control the digital sphere over the past decade and a half, relying on sophisticated censorship technology to suppress online dissent.
As new technology and repressive tactics are exported around the world, investment in internet freedom—and the researchers, technical tools, and civil society organizations working to safeguard it—is sorely needed to preserve the promise of an open, global internet
Read More
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Top Reads
Political Prisoners Watch: Six years ago today, Pakistani human rights defender Idris Khattak was abducted and disappeared by Pakistani security forces. He was subsequently sentenced to 14 years in prison following a sham trial featuring “secret” evidence presented by prosecutors and severe limitations on Idris’s defense team. At Freedom House, Free Them All: The Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners
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has petitioned the United Nations to declare his detention in Pakistan arbitrary and unlawful. Read more
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Transnational Repression (TNR) Watch: A recent attack on two Venezuelan activists in Bogotá underscored the vulnerability of President Nicolás Maduro’s critics who have been driven into exile. The regime has a record of extraterritorial violence against Venezuelan exiles, and of persecuting them by manipulating Interpol, weaponizing Venezuela’s repressive legal system, and harassing and intimidating them online and offline. Read more
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Global Freedom Summit: Senior leaders from the United States and foreign governments, the private sector, philanthropy, and civil society met to discuss the urgency of countering authoritarianism while transforming and renewing democratic momentum worldwide at the Global Freedom Summit, convened by Freedom House. The summit culminated in the release of a new framework that outlines practical steps to renew democracy and reverse the nearly 20-year decline in global freedom. Read more
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Freedom House in the News
The Daily Maverick: Africa’s arc of autocracy exacts a substantial human and economic cost
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France 24: Exile, prison, or the law: how Bukele silences critical voices in El Salvador
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The Jakarta Post: Civic groups urge solidarity amid “shrinking” democracy
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Support Freedom House's
Vital Work
For over 80 years, Freedom House has defended freedom, democracy, and essential rights around the world, helping persecuted dissidents find safety, exposing authoritarian abuse, and mobilizing policymakers to act. In the wake of a freeze in US foreign aid funding, we are calling on you to stand with us by making a donation to support our work.
Donate
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Explore the Map
Examine internet freedom scores for 72 countries accounting for nearly 90 percent of all internet users.
Learn More
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Copyright © 2025 Freedom House
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