Report: Internet Freedom Around the World Declining

Freedom House's report says the fall in the U.S. is "especially troubling"

Internet freedom in countries around the world has declined sharply in the past year despite a pushback from activists that successfully blocked some governments' repressive laws, according to a new report.

The study, by advocacy group Freedom House, looked at online trends in 60 countries, evaluating each nation them based on obstacles to access, limits to content and violations of user rights. It found that in 35 of the countries monitored, governments had expanded their legal and technical surveillance powers in regards to citizen's online activities.

"Broad surveillance, new laws controlling web content and growing arrests of social media users drove a worldwide decline in Internet freedom in the past year," the authors of the report concluded.