FX.co ★ 10 countries with most heavily censored Internet

10th place - Cuba

There is no free access to the Internet on Cuba. Until recently, residents of the island were forbidden to have personal computers.

Currently, only 5% of all Cubans have full access to the Internet (except YouTube). They are allowed to create accounts on Facebook and Twitter. Others have to pay $8 per hour if they want to go online in state-owned cyber-cafes. However, it is unlikely due to the low Cuban salaries.

9th place - Qatar

Qtel is the major Internet service provider in Qatar. It blocks particular websites in order to maintain a high degree of ethical standards and protect the cultural heritage of the country.

Internet censorship includes restriction of access to all web pages with pornographic materials and gay propaganda as well as to the websites containing anti-Islamic rhetoric and criticism of the leaders of the Persian Gulf countries.

8th place - China

The Great Firewall of China or The Golden Shield Project introduces measures that limit Internet access for Chinese citizens. This includes social networks such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. According to the Chinese government, excessive internet freedom can prevent China from building the world's strongest economy.

Media censorship is flourishing. Journalists who dare question the local authority can be easily arrested in order to prevent any oppositional sentiment.

7th place - Iran

Iran has one of the strictest Internet censorship systems in the world. There are hundreds of thousands of banned URLs and keywords the Iranian government regards as a threat to state power and political regime (40%), and sex and sexuality propaganda (20%).

The authorities monitor the network using a strategy of common preventive, intercepting and reactive measures.

6th place - Syria

Syria’s internet control measures include blocking of individual websites (for example, amazon.com), URL keywords filtering, and restricting access to IP-addresses and domains of entire network regions.

Social networks (Facebook), some instant messaging programs (Skype), as well as file sharing services (Metacafe or Reddit) are also restricted.

The system is designed in a way to prevent the use of proxies that help to avoid censorship. However, this automatically blocks plugins that have nothing to do with illicit content, as well as almost all advertising.

5th place - Vietnam

Full Internet censorship was implemented in Vietnam in 2013. In order to protect national security, the government suppressed bloggers and social network users to quote, collect and integrate media information. It prohibited foreign e-companies from connecting to country-owned servers.

The Vietnamese Internet police often infringe on human rights, leaving no chance for democratic freedoms.

4th place - Ethiopia

Information Network Security Agency in Ethiopia exercises control over the Internet. It has unlimited powers and remains unpunished violating people’s right to privacy and freedom of speech. Ethiopia's internet speed is very low (only 1%).

All websites which inflict damage to the social, economic, political and psychological well-being of the country, as well as blogs and Facebook pages, are banned.

3rd place - Sudan

Despite the recent lifting of media restrictions, Sudan censorship remains one of the toughest in the world due to the unstable political situation in the country. Opposition rallies and constantly erupting riots among the population are common here.

All social networks, as well as websites containing morally abusive and violating public ethics content, are blocked and filtered. However, in many cases, authorities resort to such methods with the aim of manipulating data and self-censorship during election campaigns.

2nd place- Saudi Arabia

The authorities of Saudi Arabia pursue an open supervision policy over Internet resources. They encourage all concerned citizens of the country for personal applications for blocking pornographic resources, gambling sites, human rights organizations (Political Rights Organization and Saudi Civil), and banned the content of opposition parties.

In addition, any criticism of the royal family and propaganda of non-Islamic content are suppressed. However, the majority of the population in Saudi Arabia is comfortable with restrictions on personal freedoms.

1st place - North Korea

North Korea implements severe censorship of the online space. It originates from the access point itself.

The country's network, opened in 2000, includes national search and news systems, email and a browser. North Korea has it own embedded operating system called Red Star.

This technology provides access to 1024 IP-addresses only, whereas in most other countries their number reaches several hundred million. Some domestic websites may become available upon request, but only after downloading, censoring, and local permission.