The 2026 Global Internet Freedom Rankings, published this week by the research agency Cloudwards, have revealed that the five countries of Central Asia have significantly less internet censorship than all of their Eurasian neighbors. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan’s online environments emerge as particularly encouraging cases.
Cloudwards defines internet censorship as the banning or restricting of online content or services, such as social media platforms, VPN apps, and certain political or religious messaging. It also covers the more welcome deletion of harmful content. Censorship can be done by governments, or initiated by a country’s internet service providers and other businesses. The internet freedom rankings do not measure state censorship per se.
Cloudwards’ research scored 171 countries on a scale of 0-100, rating their overall levels of internet censorship using five key criteria: torrenting availability; adult content accessibility; social media platforms; access to varied political and religious content; and VPN regulations.
Eleven nations returned the highest score of 92, including New Zealand, Belgium and Timor Leste. While North Korea scored 0, the next four worst countries for internet censorship – each scoring just 4 – all border Central Asia: China, Pakistan, Iran and Russia.
Tajikistan’s score of 56, while only middling in the global context, means that its internet is subject to significantly less interference than almost anywhere in the wider Eurasia region. The Times of Central Asia reported last year that the country has repealed a law that allowed citizens to be prosecuted for ‘liking’ posts on social media that are critical of the government.
The only Eurasian country to rival Tajikistan is its northern neighbor Kyrgyzstan, which has the second freest internet in Central Asia, scoring 52 in Cloudwards’ ranking. For comparison, 52 is also the overall score given to the United Kingdom and Brazil.
Kazakhstan scored 36 – above Singapore and South Korea, which both received a mark of 32. Uzbekistan scored 24.
While Turkmenistan’s mark of 16 places it firmly among the world’s worst countries for internet censorship, this is nonetheless higher than countries including India and Turkey (both 12). Turkmen netizens still experience fewer restrictions than internet users in the aforementioned China, Pakistan, Iran and Russia.
The authors of the Cloudwards report, British editors Kit Copson and Sandra Pattison, commented: “The reasons behind online censorship range from protecting people targeted by hate speech to quelling political dissent. In especially restrictive locations, censorship and internet monitoring are tools commonly to control narratives.”
They added: “The consequences for breaching government-imposed censorship laws depend on the country. They could include fines or even arrest or imprisonment for those in highly restrictive locations.”
