CHINA - Limited Internet Freedom
For the past decade, China has consistently ranked last in the world for internet freedom due to its all-pervading online surveillance and content control system dubbed the “Great Firewall.”
The report from Freedom House, a US government-funded NGO, found that global internet freedom has declined for the 14th consecutive year. China and Myanmar ranked joint last for 2024, with a score of nine out of 100.
In recent years, China’s internet watchdog has stepped up regulation of cyberspace as authorities intensified a crackdown on online dissent. China’s censors have reined in blogs, US search giants, and social media—even regulating “likes” of public posts.
In response to the report, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “Chinese citizens enjoy all rights and freedoms in accordance with the law.”
Elsewhere, the report paints a dim view of global internet freedom, with conditions for human rights online deteriorating in 27 out of 72 countries surveyed.
Of those covered by the report, almost 80% of people live in countries where individuals were arrested for posting their political, social, or religious views online.
Conversely, Iceland retained its status as having the “most free” online environment with a score of 94 out of 100.
-www.cnn.com, 17 October 2024
Arno's Commentary
That China enforces strict rules when it comes to the Internet is not surprising.
More restrictions and control of the Internet is an unfulfilled wish of many other countries. The question is, how does one define freedom? Here we have the ultimate authority: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
We must add the late Dr. Cyrus I. Scofield’s statement about freedom:
Theoretically, we are free politically. Actually, we are the slaves of party, of the caucus, of the bosses. The very minute I give over into the hands of a convention the right to formulate my political creed I am no longer absolutely free. When I take my opinions, my convictions, concerning morals or religion second-hand from other men, whether they are men of today or men of the Reformation period, or of the early church councils, I am no longer free.
When I allow a habit to dominate my life, I am no longer free. When I allow pride or vanity, or ambition, or pleasure to control my life, I am the basest of slaves. The very fact that I do not, cannot, of myself, cease from sin proclaims me a slave. Jesus Christ came into a world of slaves.
-The New Life in Jesus Christ, “We are Slaves of Party”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
