The map is divided into 4 categories: political, social, security and internet tools.

Checking who controls what:

World Internet censorship in terms of severity

The most pervasive Internet censorship is applied in Burma, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, China, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Substantial censorship in Bahrain, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.

Nominal and other types of censorship are applied in: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile,Colombia,Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA

World Internet censorship in terms of targeted content

• Political censorship: China, Iran, Burma, Vietnam, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan

China’s Internet censorship is considered to be the most pervasive and sophisticated in the world. Censorship prevents Chinese citizens from discovering or learning more about past and current failures of the Communist Party that could create or inflame anti-government sentiment. Censorship helps prevent unapproved reformist, separatist, “counter-revolutionary” or religious ideas, peaceful or otherwise, from organizing themselves and spreading. State control over the news media in China is achieved through a complex combination of party monitoring of news content, legal restrictions on journalists and financial incentives for self-censorship.

Censorship in Burma refers to government policies in controlling information on religious and ethnic subjects.

Censored content in Iran includes information that relates to women’s rights, democracy or freedom of speech.

• Social censorship is applied in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, China, Yemen, Oman, North Korea, and Pakistan. Less repressive social censorship is also applied in the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, USA, Canada, Italy, Spain, Germany, UK, Norway, and Sweden.

Kazakhstan has recently introduced a new law on the Internet to regulate forums, chats, blogs.

US content isn’t filtered although the laws are forbidding spamming and online gambling.

Only e tiny proportion of Cuba’s population is allowed to use the Internet at home. Ordinary citizens must use Internet cafes for accessing the Internet and these ones have snooping software installed.

• Security censorship is applied in China, Pakistan, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Tunisia, and Morocco.

Censorship in India mainly targets religious issues. It is justified by the government as necessary to maintain communal harmony, peace, and tranquility, given the history of communal tension

• Internet tools content is blocked in South Korea and North Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, and Syria.

Tunisia is thought by many organizations to have one of the strictest Internet censoring procedures in the world. There is one internet server for the entire country, which is controlled by the palace, allowing the government to restrict and block access as it sees fit.

What censorship is there in your country?

Do you experience any restrictions while browsing the Internet? Is it political censorship? Do you have problems accessing sites containing unblocking tips like How-to-hide-ip?

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