Ukraine has been included on the list of countries in which pro-government commentators are used to manipulate Internet discussions, reads a report entitled "Freedom on the Net 2012. A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media" of the international non-governmental organization Freedom House.
The report shows how actively the authorities in various countries use a range of tactics to control speech online. Such tactics include the restriction and filtration of the information, the adoption of laws prohibiting certain types of content, active manipulations, physical attacks on bloggers and other Internet users, and politically motivated supervision.
According to the results and the level of use of such tactics, the countries were divided into three groups in the report: free, partly free and not free.
Ukraine along with Georgia, Argentina, Italy, Hungary, Germany, and the United States are on the list of free countries. According to the report, Estonia has the highest level of freedom from censorship and intrusions of the government in the functioning of the online media.
According to Freedom House, Kazakhstan, Russia, India, Azerbaijan are partly free, and Belarus, Uzbekistan, Iran, Cuba, China and Vietnam are not free from censorship online.
The organization pointed out progress in the level of freedom comparing to that of last years in Tunisia, Georgia, and Burma. Meanwhile, the level of freedom on the Internet has significantly dropped in Bahrain, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Egypt.
Despite the fact that Ukraine’s level of freedom of speech online was assessed higher than in other post-Soviet countries, it was still included in the group of countries (along with Belarus, Bahrain, China, Cuba, Egypt, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela) where pro-government commentators are used to manipulate Internet discussions, reads the report.
