Kazakhstan Scores Lower Than Central Asian Neighbors in Internet Freedom

Cloudwards project analysts have released an updated global ranking on internet freedom. According to the study's results, Kazakhstan demonstrated one of the lowest performance scores in the Central Asian region.

Experts evaluated the level of internet freedom based on four key criteria: the availability of torrents, access to adult content websites, the right to free expression on social media, and the presence of restrictions on VPN services. Countries were scored on a scale from 0 to 100 (where a higher score indicates a higher level of freedom).

Among Central Asian nations, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan posted the poorest results, scoring 36 and 24 points, respectively. For comparison, Tajikistan leads the region with 56 points, followed by Kyrgyzstan with 52 points. Turkmenistan remains at the bottom of the regional list with 16 points.

Eleven countries shared the top spot in the ranking with a score of 92. This group primarily consists of European nations such as Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Slovakia. New Zealand, Costa Rica, Suriname, and East Timor also joined the list of top performers.

The lowest scores were recorded in:

• North Korea: 0 points (the world's most closed internet);

• Russia, Iran, and China: only 4 points each. These countries systematically block major platforms and web resources such as X (Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube.

According to experts, Kazakhstan's low score is not attributed to the technical availability of the internet, but rather to the various restrictions imposed on information resources and digital services.