Acknowledgements

Freedom on the Net is a collaborative effort between Freedom House staff and a network of more than 80 researchers, who come from civil society organizations, academia, journalism, and other backgrounds, covering 70 countries. In repressive environments, Freedom House takes care to ensure researchers’ anonymity and/or works with experts living abroad.

This report was made possible by the generous support of Amazon, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Google, the Hurford Foundation, Internet Society, Lilly Endowment Inc., The New York Community Trust, and the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). Freedom House is committed to editorial independence. Our donors do not influence the organization’s research priorities, report findings, or policy recommendations.
 
The Freedom on the Net team expresses their gratitude to the global internet freedom community, including the many individuals and organizations whose tireless and courageous work informs this report.

Contributors

Freedom House staff

• Adrian Shahbaz, Vice President of Research and Analysis
• Allie Funk, Research Director for Technology and Democracy
• Philip Friedrich, Senior Research Analyst for Technology and Elections
• Kian Vesteinsson, Senior Research Analyst for Technology and Democracy
• Grant Baker, Research Analyst for Technology and Democracy
• Cathryn Grothe, Research Analyst for Middle East and North Africa
• Maddie Masinsin, Community Engagement Specialist for Technology and Democracy
• Manisha Vepa, former Research Associate
• Tessa Weal, Research Associate for Technology and Democracy

Elisha Aaron, David Meijer, Shannon O’Toole, Tyler Roylance, and Lora Uhlig edited Freedom on the Net. Michael Abramowitz, Gerardo Berthin, Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, Annie Boyajian, Nate Schenkkan, and Lara Shane provided valuable feedback on the summary of findings. Sarah Cook and Angeli Datt served as advisers for China. Mike Smeltzer and Noah Buyon advised on the Europe and Eurasia regions. Danielle Dougall, Dasha M, and Eilidh Stalker provided research assistance.

Report authors

• Argentina: Eduardo Ferreyra, independent researcher
• Armenia: Samvel Martirosyan, Co-Founder of CyberHUB-AM
• Australia: Elizabeth O'Shea and Lucie Krahulcova, Digital Rights Watch
• Azerbaijan: Arzu Geybulla, journalist 
• Brazil: Bruna Martins dos Santos, German Chancellor Fellow at Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Visiting Researcher at Berlin Social Science Center
• Cambodia: Sopheap Chak, Executive Director of Cambodian Center for Human Rights
• Canada: Allen Mendelsohn, McGill University 
• Colombia: Emmanuel Vargas and Susana Echavarría, El Veinte
• Costa Rica: Oscar Mario Jiménez Alvarado, Fernando Martínez de Lemos, Johanna Rodríguez López, Programa de Libertad de Expresión, Derecho a la Información y Opinión Pública (PROLEDI), Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR)
• Cuba: Ted Henken, Baruch College, City University of New York
• Estonia: Hille Hinsberg and Florian Marcus, Proud Engineers
•  Ethiopia: Atnafu Brhane, Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy
• France: Dr. Suzanne Vergnolle, Associate Professor at Cnam Institute
• Georgia: Teona Turashvili, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information
• Germany: Paul Ritzka and Lisa Schmechel, iRights.Lab
• Hungary: Dalma Dojcsák, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
• Iceland: Arnaldur Sigurðarson, independent researcher
• Indonesia: Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet)
• Iraq: Hayder Hamzoz and Assia Abdulkareem, Iraqi Network for Social Media
• Italy: Philip Di Salvo, Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics; Antonella Napolitano, Privacy International
• Japan: Hamada Tadahisa, Japan Computer Access for Empowerment
• Lebanon: Marianne Rahme, SMEX
• Libya: Jabir Zain, Libyan Center for Freedom of the Press
• Malawi: Jimmy Kainja, University of Malawi
• Malaysia: Kelly Koh, Sinar Project
• Mexico: Mariel García-Montes, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Myanmar: Free Expression Myanmar
• Nicaragua: Abdías Zambrano, IPANDETEC 
• Nigeria: Adeboro Odunlami, independent researcher 
• Serbia: Mila Bajic, Asja Lazarević, Bojan Perkov, SHARE Foundation
• Singapore: Kirsten Han, independent researcher
• South Africa: Tshepiso Hadebe, PPM Attorneys
• South Korea: Yenn Lee, SOAS University of London
• Sri Lanka: Raisa Wickrematunge, independent researcher
• Taiwan: Ming-Syuan Ho, independent researcher
• Thailand: Emilie Pradichit and Letitia Visan, Manushya Foundation
• The Gambia: Nasiru Deen, Gambia Press Union
• Tunisia: Yosr Jouini, independent researcher
• Turkey: Gürkan Özturan, Media Freedom Rapid Response Coordinator at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom
• United Kingdom: Edina Harbinja, Aston University
• United States: Claire Park, independent researcher
• Uzbekistan: Ernest Zhanaev, independent researcher
• Venezuela: Raisa Urribarri, Universidad de Los Andes (Emeritus)
• Vietnam: Trinh Huu Long, Legal Initiatives for Vietnam
• Zambia: Bulanda T. Nkhowani, Paradigm Initiative 
• Zimbabwe: Nompilo Simanje, Legal and ICT Policy Officer, Media Institute of Southern Africa

Researchers for Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, and Ukraine wished to remain anonymous. 

Advisers

• Abrar Mohamed Ali, Researcher, African Digital Rights Network 
• Eto Buziashvili, Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
• Jonathan Corpus Ong, Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Research Fellow at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University
• Angel Diaz, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at USC Gould School of Law
• Alena Epifanova, Research Fellow at International Order and Democracy Program, German Council on Foreign Relations
• Alyssa Kann, Research Associate at Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab
• Jeff Kosseff, Associate Professor, Cyber Science Department, United States Naval Academy
• Artur Pericles Lima Monteiro, Wikimedia Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School, and member, Constitution, Politics, and Institutions research cluster, University of São Paulo
• Iria Puyosa, Senior Research Fellow at Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab 
• Hakeem Dawd Qaradaghi, independent researcher
• Xiao Qiang, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of China Digital Times and research scientist at the School of Information, University of California Berkeley

How to cite this report

Shahbaz, Funk, Friedrich, Vesteinsson, Baker, Grothe, Masinsin, Vepa, Weal eds. Freedom on the Net 2022, Freedom House, 2022, freedomonthenet.org.

Shahbaz, Funk, and Vesteinsson, “Countering the Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet,” in Shahbaz, Funk, Vesteinsson, Friedrich, Baker, Grothe, Masinsin, Vepa, Weal eds. Freedom on the Net 2022, Freedom House, 2022, freedomonthenet.org.

“Angola,” in Shahbaz, Funk, Friedrich, Vesteinsson, Baker, Grothe, Masinsin, Vepa, Weal eds. Freedom on the Net 2022, Freedom House, 2022, freedomonthenet.org.