Report: Cambodia’s internet freedom slipping
6 November 2018
Althought still ranked “Partly Free”, internet freedom in Cambodia is slipping, says a report by Freedom House, a US-based democracy, political freedom and human rights watchdog. But the deputy secretary of the Ministry of Justice said the report “did not reflect the truth”.

The report found that Cambodia was among 26 countries that had dropped on its scale, while 19 had seen internet freedom improve.

It said Cambodia had intensified a crackdown on online dissidents, with arrests made over political commentary on social media and news sites.

Cambodia scored 55 on the scale in which 0 is “Free” and 100 “Least Free”. Over the past five years, the Kingdom has been slipping – from a score of 47 points in 2013 and 2014, 48 points in 2015 and 52 points in 2016 and 2017.

Freedom House assesses internet freedom in 65 countries with grades of “Free” for a score from 0 to 30 points, “Partly Free” for 31-60 points and “Not Free” between 61-100 points.

Cambodia’s neighbours, Vietnam (with 76 points) and Thailand (65 points) remain “Not Free”.

The report based its conclusion on a wide range of aspects affecting media freedom, including the adoption of the lese majeste law, the release of code of conducts for the media by the National Election Committee, inter-ministerial prakas to form groups to monitor online news and the closure of Radio Free Asia Cambodia and the Cambodia Daily newspaper.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... m-slipping