OONI Explorer is an open data resource on internet censorship around the world.
Since 2012, millions of network measurements have been collected from more than 200 countries. OONI Explorer sheds light on internet censorship and other forms of network interference worldwide.
Below we share some stories from research reports based on OONI data.
We share these case studies to demonstrate how OONI's openly available data can be used and what types of stories can be told.
We encourage you to explore OONI data, discover more censorship cases, and to use OONI data as part of your research and/or advocacy.
Censorship during political events
Internet censorship sometimes occurs in response to or in anticipation of political events, such as elections, protests, and riots. Below we share a few cases detected via OONI data and correlated with political events.
Cuba
2019 Constitutional Referendum
Blocking of independent media
Venezuela
2019 Presidential Crisis
Blocking of Wikipedia and social media
Zimbabwe
2019 Fuel Protests
Social media blocking and internet blackouts
Mali
2018 Presidential Election
Blocking of WhatsApp and Twitter
Spain
Catalonia 2017 Independence Referendum
Blocking of sites related to the referendum
Iran
2018 Anti-government Protests
Blocking of Telegram, Instagram and Tor
Ethiopia
2016 Wave of Protests
Blocking of news websites and social media
Pakistan
2017 Protests
Blocking of news websites and social media
Media censorship
Press freedom is threatened in countries that experience the blocking of media websites. Below we share a few cases detected through OONI data.
Egypt
Pervasive media censorship
Blocking of hundreds of media websites
Venezuela
Blocking of independent media websites
Venezuela's economic and political crisis
South Sudan
Blocking of foreign-based media
Media accused of hostile reporting against the government
Malaysia
Blocking of media
1MDB scandal
Iran
Pervasive media censorship
Blocking of at least 121 news outlets
Blocking of LGBTQI sites
Minority group sites are blocked around the world. Below we share a few cases on the blocking of LGBTQI sites.
Indonesia
Blocking of LGBTQI sites
Iran
Blocking of Grindr
Ethiopia
Blocking of QueerNet
Censorship changes
OONI measurements have been collected on a continuous basis since 2012, enabling the identification of censorship changes around the world. Some examples include:
Venezuelan ISPs used to primarily block sites by means of DNS tampering. Now state-owned CANTV also implements SNI-based filtering.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia used to block numerous news websites, LGBTQI, political opposition, and circumvention tool sites. As part of the 2018 political reforms, most of these sites have been unblocked.