Freedom House has kicked off promotion for the launch of the 2023 #FreedomOnTheNet ranking on 4 Oct.
As a primer, have a look at our recent article with @tanyalokot on how competing rankings have shaped global understandings of what internet freedom is (and isn't)
International rankings play an active role in defining the issue they claim to capture and giving the issue salience. As internet access expanded globally, the past two decades have seen a proliferation of indexes comparing the state of internet freedom around the globe.
We examine the politics of these rankings, incl. Freedom House’s FoTN, that have become powerful “global pattern-setters” for how internet freedom is understood and are used as tools of political or diplomatic influence.
We adopt a relational approach to explain how & why such a complex landscape of internet freedom rankings has emerged and identify how the ranking organisations’ varying approaches to capturing internet freedom have played a role in defining and legitimating it as a global issue.
Since both the uses of the internet and discussions about what freedom means in relation to it have developed so rapidly, ranking organisations have had to continually respond to these developments, negotiating their authority in relation to other actors in their field.
As we approach the annual media event that surrounds the launch of FoTN, our article can serve as a useful primer for what internet freedom rankings can - and cannot - tell us.
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