Internet Freedom in the Americas Declined in 2024

WASHINGTON—Internet freedom in the Americas declined over the past year, with two countries recording net gains and five countries experiencing deterioration, according to a new report released today by Freedom House. Freedom House analyzed online rights in 12 countries in the region.

The report, Freedom on the Net 2024: The Struggle for Trust Online, found that the region’s decline was largely driven by efforts to impose harsher penalties for online activities, including arrests, detentions, and long prison sentences. In advance of elections across the Americas, political candidates—and in Venezuela’s case, government officials—used various means to saturate the digital environment with false and misleading information, hoping to reshape online discussion and electoral outcomes. In a positive development, despite notable infrastructural challenges, access to the internet continued to expand in several countries, including Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Chile, which was assessed for the first time in this year’s edition of Freedom on the Net, tied with Canada as the world’s third-freest online environment.

Beyond the Americas, 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 12 countries studied as part of this region are: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, the United States, and Venezuela.