How the censorship map is built

Data sources

The map combines four kinds of source material, weighted in this order:

1. Freedom House — Freedom on the Net — annual, country-level scoring of internet freedom across obstacles to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights. Where Freedom House publishes a score, we use it directly. Where they do not (a few smaller markets), we estimate within the same 0-100 scale and label that explicitly in the country key facts.
2. OONI (Open Observatory of Network Interference) — community-run network measurement project. OONI Probe runs from real connections inside affected countries and produces empirical evidence of which sites and protocols are actually blocked, when, and on which carriers. Useful for verifying claims independently of government statements.
3. Comparitech and Cloudwards 2026 censorship summaries — third-party VPN industry research that aggregates news cycles into structured country reports. Best as a freshness signal for incident-driven changes (the X ban in Pakistan, the Discord block in Egypt, the Telegram block in Vietnam).
4. Fexyn primary research — for the 14 countries with dedicated guides, the data is sourced against named carriers, regulatory citations, and dated incidents. This is the deepest tier and feeds back into the map. New country pages bring new data.

Where sources disagree (rare but real), we carry the more conservative interpretation and flag the disagreement in the country's key facts.

How freedom scores are calculated

freedomScore is a 0-100 number where 100 is most free. Where Freedom House publishes a Freedom on the Net score for a country, we adopt that number directly. Where Freedom House does not score a country (about a third of the countries on this map), we estimate within the same scale by calibrating against three signals:

• The country's overall Freedom in the World score (Freedom House's broader political-rights and civil-liberties index).
• OONI block measurements — number of platforms confirmed blocked.
• Verified DPI deployment and recent legislative changes.

The five-bucket censorship level (free, mostly free, restricted, heavily restricted, severely restricted) maps onto the freedom score: ≥85 free, 65-84 mostly free, 40-64 restricted, 20-39 heavily restricted, <20 severely restricted. Countries near a threshold may be classified into the level that better matches the documented behaviour.

Categories assessed

Six categories per country, each scored independently:

• Social media — major Western platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, YouTube). Open / restricted / blocked.
• VoIP and video-call apps — WhatsApp, FaceTime, Skype, Viber, Messenger calls. The Gulf and Egyptian commercial- blocking pattern is the main driver here.
• VPN legality — what the law and published enforcement records say about individual VPN use. Legal / restricted / illegal.
• News media — independent and opposition outlet access. Open / restricted / censored.
• Political expression — the broader framework around what users can post about government and politics. Free / restricted / censored.
• DPI deployment — yes/no based on published evidence (academic papers, Citizen Lab reports, OONI fingerprint analysis, vendor disclosure).

Update frequency

The map is reviewed quarterly. Freedom House publishes Freedom on the Net annually (typically October); we incorporate the new edition within four weeks of release. Material changes between quarterly cycles — new platform blocks, new VPN laws, significant DPI deployments — get pushed when noticed via news monitoring.

Each country's detail panel shows a Last updated field with the year-month of the most recent review.

Corrections

If you have evidence that data for your country (or one you research) is inaccurate, please contact us with sources. Email research@fexyn.com with the country, the specific claim that's wrong, and a citation to the correct information. We respond to verified corrections within seven days and update the map immediately on confirmation.

We do not accept correction requests that ask us to soften censorship language based on government framing alone. Citations to independent verifiable sources (Freedom House, OONI, Citizen Lab, court documents, regulator publications) are required.

Use of this data

Researchers, journalists, and educators are welcome to cite the map. The simplest attribution: "Fexyn Internet Censorship Map, fexyn.com/tools/censorship-map." For embeddable versions or deeper data exports, email research@fexyn.com.