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Over half the world’s population faces a crisis of free expression

Global Expression Report 2024

Dear John,

The Global Expression Report 2024, published this week, sounds a piercing alarm bell:

At no point in the last 20 years have so many people been denied the benefits of open societies, including the ability to get online, have an independent press keep rulers accountable, or access credible information.

Our report reveals that:

• Over half of the global population – that’s 53% or 4.2 billion people – live in countries where freedom of expression is in ‘Crisis’. That’s more people than at any other time this century.

  
  

• Less than a quarter (23%) of people live in countries where freedom of expression is considered ‘Open’ or ‘Less Restricted’.

  
  

• In the last 10 years, 6.2 billion people across 78 countries experienced a deterioration of their freedom of expression, while only 303 million people across 18 countries saw improvement.

How has your country performed?

India: Dropping 35 points in 10 years, can it still be considered the world's ‘largest democracy’?

The growth in population living in ‘Crisis’ countries has been driven by India, which shifted from the ‘Highly Restricted’ category last year. India has seen a 35-point decline in its score over the past decade – that is, since Narendra Modi became prime minister. In that time, the country has declined in 24 out of the 25 freedom of expression indicators that make up the Global Expression metric.

India’s decline has happened in plain sight – yet it’s a story not many want to talk about. Given that the Indian government touts itself as the ‘world’s largest democracy’, this deep and sustained clampdown on freedoms should be of major global concern.

This year’s general elections in India take place amid the muzzling of independent media and unprecedented attacks on opposition parties, civil society, and religious minorities. From shutting down the internet more than any other country in the world to the arrest of a sitting chief minister during election season, the erosion of India’s democracy is plainly visible for all to see.

‘India talks about itself being the world’s largest democracy. How much longer will it be a democracy if it keeps undermining freedom of expression – the one thing that is necessary to truly be considered a democracy in the world?’

– Quinn McKew

(Executive Director, ARTICLE 19)

UK and USA: Traditionally ‘Open’ societies have begun closing

But the story of global expression decline is not limited to authoritarian or hybrid regimes. In the past 10 years:

• The UK has seen a decline across 6 out of 25 indicators, including freedom from internet censorship and freedom of peaceful assembly, on which it ranks lower than the United States and most EU countries. Just this week, the High Court ruled that the government acted unlawfully when it made it easier for the police to criminalise peaceful protests.

  
  

• The United States has declined across 9 indicators, including freedom of academic exchange and freedom of peaceful assembly: issues that converged in the recent pro-Palestine campus protests, where students have experienced severe police crackdowns nationwide.

Around the world, leaders are erasing our freedoms one by one – often through subtle policy changes presented in the name of ‘public safety’, ‘morality’, or ‘national security’ – tightening the net until there is no room left to breathe.

Brazil: 26-point jump since Bolsonaro was voted out

Brazil’s expression score jumped 26 points in the last year, bringing the country back into the ‘Open’ category from the ‘Restricted’ category, which it fell into when Bolsonaro was elected in 2019.

In the past year, Brazil has advanced across 17 out of 25 freedom of expression indicators, including freedom from harassment of journalists, civil society freedoms, and freedom of peaceful assembly.

The data shows that the 2022 election, when Brazilians voted  Bolsonaro out of office, was the turning point – a promising sign in a year when billions of people worldwide are heading to the polls.

How long will we let our leaders continue to ignore the data – and us?

ARTICLE 19 has been warning of a deepening digital divide, greater attacks on journalists, and the decline of information integrity since 2017. And we’re not the only ones. From V-Dem to Freedom House, civil society initiatives to measure trends in our rights and civil liberties have come to the same conclusion: democracy is backsliding.

Through our annual Global Expression Reports over the past 7 years, we've witnessed leaders across the globe take increasing control over what information we are fed and what we can see, say, or share with each other. The evidence has been there all long – and as we can see, these alarming trends are now crystallising.

So far, 2024 is a year in which global leaders continue to place profit over people, from delaying decisive action on the climate crisis to failing to stop the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, leading to a profound and tragic loss of precious human lives.

But 2024 has also been dubbed Super Election Year: nearly 2 billion people, or a quarter of the world’s population, are going to the polls. This is possibly the greatest exercise of political participation in human history.

Which means that 2024 can become the year for our voices, our choices, and our power. As Brazil’s example shows, when we come together, we can reclaim democracy from those who seek to crush it.

Our collective future depends on our freedom to express our views, debate freely, and access the information we need to hold our leaders accountable.

Use the Global Expression Report to track progress, call out backsliding, and celebrate success.

Most of all, use it for change.

Use your voice and vote. For change, for peace, for unity – and diversity. For a freer, fairer future, and for this planet: the only one that we can all call home.

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