The US-based organization Freedom House said that Libya is one of the countries that witnessed the most restrictions on Internet freedom, along with Sudan, Russia and Myanmar.

Freedom House added in the annual report on Internet Freedom 2022, entitled “Facing the authoritarian reform of the Internet”, that freedom declined for the 12th year in a row, and the human rights environment on the Internet deteriorated in 28 countries, perhaps the most important of which is Libya.

It said that a number of Internet users in Libya who shared or reported a criminal comment forcibly disappeared before they reappeared in custody, indicating that officials in at least 53 countries have accused, arrested or imprisoned Internet users in retaliation for the publications related to political or social reasons.

The American organization stressed that the increasing digital repression in many countries reflected broader crackdowns against human rights in 2021, as censorship on the Web reached an all-time high, with a record number of governments banning political, social or religious content.

Meanwhile, the Libyan House of Representatives  approved last year a new cybercrime law, which was described as one of the worst that the House of Representatives has ever done, as it restricts freedoms on the Internet and stipulates a prison sentence for anyone who criticizes or shares an online publication that criticizes a public person such as members of the House of Representatives or others.

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