Press release October 16, 2024
Internet Freedom in Africa Improved in 2024
Overall gains related to expanding access and online activism were offset by widespread arrests of users and the prevalence of progovernment content manipulation.
WASHINGTON—Internet freedom in Africa improved over the past year, with seven countries recording net gains and six experiencing declines according to a new report released today by Freedom House. Freedom House analyzed online rights in 17 countries in the region.
The report, Freedom on the Net 2024: The Struggle for Trust Online, documented improvements in the accessibility and quality of internet connections, as well as increasingly free environments for online civic mobilization, with people in countries from Ghana to Zambia using social media to call for better governance in the face of economic crises. However, internet users across Africa also continued to face intimidation and physical violence in retaliation for their online expression. Internet freedom was especially constrained in countries experiencing armed conflict: authorities in Sudan and Ethiopia cited the security situation to justify disrupting internet connectivity and cracking down on online journalists.
Other findings on Africa include:
Internet users were arrested, imprisoned, or detained in retaliation for their online speech in 16 of the 17 African countries under analysis. In Tunisia, a military court sentenced a blogger and human rights defender to seven years in prison for his social media posts calling for demonstrations.
Progovernment commentators manipulated the online information space in 12 of the 17 countries assessed. In Zimbabwe, state media amplified narratives that sought to discredit domestic and international election monitors who reported critically on the conduct of the August 2023 elections.
Internet users were physically attacked or killed in retaliation for their online speech and activism in nine out of 17 countries. In Sudan, both the regular military and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces carried out a brutal crackdown against journalists, activists, and ordinary internet users who reported on the civil war neutrally or shared information about human rights abuses.
Highest and lowest scores: South Africa earned the highest score in the region, with 74 points on the report’s 100-point scale, and was rated Free, while Ethiopia received the lowest score (27) and was rated Not Free.
Largest improvement, biggest decline: Zambia (62) had the largest score improvement in the region (+3), while Zimbabwe (48) had the largest score decline (−3).
Beyond Africa, Freedom on the Net 2024 found that global internet freedom declined for the 14th consecutive year. Governments in at least 25 of the 72 countries under analysis cut off internet access, restricted access to social media platforms, or blocked websites hosting political, social, and religious speech during electoral periods, often with the intention of shaping the results. Governments also turned to arrests, violence, and other forms of repression to silence online speech outside of electoral periods. In at least 56 countries, internet users were arrested due to their political, social, or religious expression. People were physically attacked or killed in retaliation for their online activities in a record high of at least 43 countries. Some of the most serious abuses took place in the context of armed conflicts. Internet shutdowns amid such fighting plunged civilians into information vacuums, prevented journalists from reporting on the violence, and hampered the delivery of lifesaving aid.
Freedom on the Net is an annual study of human rights in the digital sphere. The project now assesses internet freedom in 72 countries, accounting for 87 percent of the world’s internet users. This report, the 14th in its series, covered developments between June 2023 and May 2024. Chile and the Netherlands were assessed for the first time this year and serve as global models for internet freedom, with Chile’s score (86) placing it third in a tie with Canada, and the Netherlands earning the sixth-highest score (83). More than 95 analysts and advisers contributed to this year’s edition, using a standard methodology to determine each country’s internet freedom score on a 100-point scale, with 21 separate indicators pertaining to obstacles to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights.
The 17 countries studied as part of this region are: Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Click here to read the full report and policy recommendations. Click here to read translated versions of the news release: Arabic, French, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Russian, Spanish. Click here to read additional, regionally focused news releases: Americas, Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, Europe, Middle East.
To schedule an interview with Freedom House experts, please contact Maryam Iftikhar at [email protected] or (202) 747-7064.
Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to create a world where all are free. We inform the world about threats to freedom, mobilize global action, and support democracy’s defenders.