Freedom House • • • • Do online media outlets, social media pages, blogs, and websites represent diverse interests, experiences, and languages within society, for example by providing content produced by different ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT+, migrant, and other relevant groups? Does the presence of misinformation undermine users’ ability to access independent, credible, and diverse sources of information? Does false or misleading content online significantly contribute to offline harms, such as harassment, property destruction, physical violence, or death? If there is extensive censorship, do users employ virtual private networks (VPNs) and other circumvention tools to access a broader array of information sources? 8. Do conditions impede users’ ability to mobilize, form communities, and campaign, particularly on political and social issues? (0–6 points) • Do online communities organize on political, social, cultural, and economic issues, including during electoral campaigns and nonviolent protests? • Do state or other actors limit access to online tools and websites (e.g., social media platforms, messaging groups, petition websites) for the purpose of restricting free assembly and association online? • Does the state place legal or other restrictions (e.g. criminal provisions, detentions, surveillance) for the purpose of restricting free assembly and association online? C. VIOLATIONS OF USER RIGHTS (0–40 POINTS) 1. Do the constitution or other laws fail to protect rights such as freedom of expression, access to information, and press freedom, including on the internet, and are they enforced by a judiciary that lacks independence? (0–6 points) • Does the constitution contain language that provides for freedom of expression, access to information, and press freedom generally? • Are there laws or binding legal decisions that specifically protect online modes of expression? • Are online journalists and bloggers accorded strong rights and protections to perform their work? • Is the judiciary independent, and do senior judicial bodies and officials support free expression online? • Is there implicit impunity for private or state actors who commit crimes against online journalists, bloggers, or other people targeted for their online activities? 2. Are there laws that assign criminal penalties or civil liability for online activities, particularly those that are protected under international human rights standards? (0–4 points) • Do specific laws—including penal codes and those related to the media, defamation, cybercrime, cybersecurity, and terrorism—criminalize online expression and activities that are protected under international human rights standards (e.g., journalism, discussion of human rights, educational materials, or political, social, cultural, religious, and artistic expression)? • Are restrictions on internet freedom defined by law, narrowly circumscribed, and both necessary and proportionate to address a legitimate aim? 3. Are individuals penalized for online activities, particularly those that are protected under international human rights standards? (0–6 points) • Are writers, commentators, bloggers, or social media users subject to civil liability, imprisonment, arbitrary detention, police raids, or other legal sanction for publishing, sharing, or accessing material on the internet in contravention of international human rights standards? • Are penalties for defamation; spreading false information or “fake news”; national security, terrorism, and extremism; blasphemy; insulting state institutions and officials; or harming foreign relations applied unnecessarily and disproportionately? @freedomhouse freedomhouse.org 33