Overview
- Freedom House reports deterioration in 27 of 72 assessed countries versus 17 improvements, marking a 15th consecutive annual decline.
- Germany falls three points to 74, with cited factors including prosecutions over political memes, intimidation of journalists by far-right actors, and Russia-linked cyberattacks.
- The United States drops three points to 73, with the scoring period running from June 2024 to May 2025 and reflecting only the first four months of President Trump’s second term.
- The index covers 72 countries representing 89% of global internet users, scoring access barriers, content limits, and user-rights violations on a 1–100 scale.
- Freedom House urges collaboration among lawmakers, companies, and civil society, highlights satellite internet as an access enabler, rejects age‑verification measures that erode anonymity, and discloses donors while asserting independence.