Repressive regimes around the world are nationalizing the internet and isolating people
China, Iran, Russia and Cambodia, all authoritarian states, are deeply invested in ensuring the isolation of their people from the global internet.
They’re among the top countries trying to centralize state control over domestic internet infrastructure, according to Freedom House’s 2022 Freedom on the Net report, which studied internet freedom in 70 countries, making up 89% of the world’s internet users.
Released on October 18, the report found that global internet freedom has declined for the twelfth year in a row. Rising internet fragmentation, with countries ringfencing their national internet services from the global internet, is one of the main reasons.
To some degree the internet has always been fragmented along national borders, says Kian Vesteinsson, one of the report’s co-authors.