Armenia ahead of Azerbaijan in terms of free Internet, but behind Georgia

YEREVAN, Oct. 18. /ARKA/.  The Freedom on the Net 2022: Countering the Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet report, released by the international human rights organization Freedom House, lists Armenia with score of 74 among the free countries.

The report notes that in Armenia, domestic and international civil society groups combined public condemnation with private advocacy to persuade the government to repeal a criminal defamation clause that was originally passed in July 2021.

The legislation, which criminalized serious insults of government officials and public figures, was invoked throughout the year to prosecute users who shared critical commentary, especially about Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Civil society activists aired their concerns in private meetings with diplomats and in Armenian news outlets, and their objections were then cited in a formal appeal to the Constitutional Court.

Government officials agreed to exclude the provision from a new criminal code that took effect in July 2022, and committed to broad consultation with nongovernmental groups when developing media-related laws in the future.

Of the former Soviet countries, only Georgia (78 points) surpassed Armenia in terms of Internet freedom. Ukraine (59 points), Kyrgyzstan (53) are among the countries with partly free internet, while Azerbaijan (38 points), Kazakhstan (32 points), Belarus (28 points), Uzbekistan (27 points) and Russia (23 points) are recognized as countries with non-free Internet.

Iceland, Estonia and Costa Rica are the countries with the freest Internet. The worst situation is in Zambia, Malawi and Nigeria.  Armenia was also among the free countries with 71 points in the 2021 report.

Freedom House annually compiles the Freedom on the Net ranking, which shows the real situation of freedom of speech on the Internet in different countries around the world. The data is used to compile a report that ranks Freedom on the Net by country and provides a global overview of recent developments. -0-

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16:46 10/18/2022