The introduction to the 2019 Freedom on the Net report:The Crisis of Social Media says'Repressive regimes, elected incumbents with authoritarian ambitions, and unscrupulous partisan operatives have exploited the unregulated spaces of social media platforms, converting them into instruments for political distortion and societal control', and reports that global Internet freedom has declined for the ninth year in a row. The report notes the 2018 marked the 13th consecutive year of decline in global freedoms. Examining 65 countries between June 2018 and May 2019, China was found to be the worst abuser for the fourth time in a row, close to Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia, while Iceland came in first (freest).

In spite of negative news, changes in leadership and incremental changes in society show a more optimistic trend: