A new study by Proxyrack has revealed that Nigeria is one of the countries with the least internet censorship in the world. Out of the twenty countries profiled in terms of Internet freedom scores, Nigeria ranked 57 over 100, while countries like the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and France ranked 79, 77 and 76 respectively.
This ranking is coming as Internet freedom is fast becoming an increasingly important issue, with some governments around the world seeking to limit their citizen’s digital rights, restrict access to or censor information, or even prevent reliable internet access altogether.
Internet freedom is also on the decline globally, with some activists taking advantage of residential proxies and VPNs to speak out against corrupt regimes and create a fairer society.
Meanwhile, in terms of the number of citizens online per 100, 000, Nigeria has 49,968 with United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and France have 99, 231; 95,440; 93,583 and 94,265 respectively.
Some facts
- The United Kingdom believes that the freedom to access the internet is the most fundamental right when it comes to internet freedom, and the UK has the highest proportion of internet users. Nearly all of the adult population accessed the internet in some form recently.
- Despite the large proportion of internet users in Japan, the country spends the least time on social media and on the internet overall, compared to other countries.
- Internet access is a key aspect of internet freedom, as some governments chose to silence opposing voices by limiting the internet infrastructure of certain areas. This is not the case in France however, as it takes third place for this factor, with just over 94,000 people per 100,000 being regular internet users.
Internet censorship is the restriction of certain aspects of online media, such as social media, political propaganda and torrenting – different countries take different approaches to which parts of the media are restricted to the public.