2021
In July 2021, the list of press freedom predators published by Reporters Without Borders includes: [5] [6]
Press freedom predator is an anti-award distributed every few years by Reporters Without Borders. [1] It is attributed to heads of state or groups who are deemed to have a negative effect on press freedom. [2]
Recipients often vehemently deny that they deserve their place on the list. [3] In 2020, Reporters Without Borders also released a list of 20 press freedom's digital predators. [4]
In July 2021, the list of press freedom predators published by Reporters Without Borders includes: [5] [6]
In October 2016, the list of press freedom predators published by Reporters Without Borders includes: [7]
In May 2013, the list of press freedom predators published by Reporters Without Borders includes: [8]
| Image | Name | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Al-Shabaab |  Somalia | Islamic insurgence group active in East Africa |
| | Boko Haram |  Nigeria | An Islamic terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria |
 | Hizbul Islam | Somalia | Somali Islamist group |
 | Isaias Afwerki |  Eritrea | President of Eritrea (1993–present) |
 | Mswati III |  Eswatini | King of Eswatini (1986–present) |
 | Paul Kagame |  Rwanda | President of Rwanda (2000–present) |
 | Robert Mugabe |  Zimbabwe | President of Zimbabwe (1987-2017) |
 | Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo |  Equatorial Guinea | President of Equatorial Guinea (1979–present) |
 | Yahya Jammeh |  The Gambia | President of the Gambia (1996-2017) |
| Image | Name | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Dario Antonio Úsuga |  Colombia | Leader of the drug trafficking group Clan del Golfo |
 | Los Zetas |  Mexico | Mexican criminal syndicate |
 | Miguel Facussé Barjum |  Honduras | Honduran businessman and landowner |
| Miguel Treviño Morales | Mexico | Mexican drug lord | |
 | Raúl Castro |  Cuba | First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (2011-2021) President of the Council of State (2008-2018) |
| Image | Name | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Alexander Lukashenko |  Belarus | President of Belarus (1994–present) |
| Camorra |  Italy | Italian Mafia-type criminal organization and criminal society originating in the region of Campania, and is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy. | |
 | Ramzan Kadyrov |  Chechnya (  Russia) | Head of the Chechen Republic (2007–present) |
 | Vladimir Putin | Russia | President of Russia (2000-2008 and 2012–present) Prime Minister of Russia (2008-2012) |
The list of press freedom predators published by Reporters Without Borders from 2009 to 2011 includes: [9] [10] [11]
In November 2001, the list of press freedom predators published by Reporters Without Borders includes: [12]
In March 2020, as part of the World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, the Reporters Without Borders published a list of digital press freedom predators. The list includes: [13] [14]
| Name | Country | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Electronic Flies |  Algeria | Army of internet trolls in the Algerian government’s payroll. Their main task is to discredit all journalists critical of the government by engaging in online abuse, posting personal information about them and public reporting of critical posts in online platforms in order to remove them. |
| Hate Office |  Brazil | Consisting of close presidential advisers of President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro and coordinated by his son Carlos, the group publishes attacks against journalists on a large scale by engaging in social media campaigns of insults and threats. The existence of such group was revealed by Brazilian parliamentarian and former ally of Bolsonaro Joice Hasselmann. |
| Modi's Yoddhas |  India | Internet trolls who either volunteer their services or are paid employees of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and are supporters of the current Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. They engage in social media insults, calls for rape and death threats against critics of Modi. Yoddhas in Hindi language means 'warriors'. |
| The Kremlin's Troll Army | Russia | An internet troll army which have an implicit backing of the Government of Russia and President of Russia Vladimir Putin. They spread false reports and videos, engage in doxing and defamation against critics of Putin, and also spread propaganda about those who denounce their activities. |
| Troll Gangs | Mexico | An internet troll group who have engaged in social media smears, threats and insults against journalists who have questioned President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s decision to release drug lord El Chapo’s son Ovidio Guzmán López. |
| Image | Name | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Cyberspace Administration of China |  China | The central internet regulator, censor, oversight, and control agency for the People's Republic of China. The agency engages in internet censorship and supervision of private-sector platforms such as Baidu, WeChat, Weibo and Douyin, and blocking and deleting content and apps. During the COVID-19 pandemic in China, the agency has suppressed social media accounts of media outlets and bloggers, and censored news outlets critical of the government's handling of the pandemic. |
 | Ministry of Home Affairs | India | The ministry of the Government of India, which is mainly responsible for the maintenance of internal security and domestic policy of the country. On 5 August 2019, it completely disconnected internet communication in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in Kashmiri journalists unable to work freely and depriving all of the state's residents from accessing independently reported news and information. Despite broadband connections being partially restored after six months, access to many sites remains largely uncertain and India is the country that most uses Internet shutdowns, with a total of 121 in 2019. |
 | National Commission of Telecommunications (Conatel) |  Venezuela | An agency of the Government of Venezuela that exercises the regulation, supervision and control over telecommunications. It orders the blocking of websites that are critical of the authorities of the government and many have been blocked without any possibility of appeal. The agency also temporarily blocks social media platforms such as Facebook, especially when opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s speeches are being broadcast live on Facebook. |
 | Roskomnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) | Russia | The Russian federal executive agency responsible for monitoring, controlling and censoring Russian mass media. It has blocked more than 490,000 websites without warning and without respecting legal procedure, and maintains a secret blacklist of banned sites. The agency also blocks platforms and apps that refuse to store their data on servers in Russia or provide the Russian authorities the means to decrypt messages. |
 | Supreme Council of Cyberspace |  Iran | The agency was created in 2012, and consists of senior military and political figures. They engage in online selective access and control, blocking news websites, social media platforms and messaging apps such as Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. Internet shutdowns are increasingly used to contain and suppress waves of street protests in the country, and publishing independent information are regarded as “counter-revolutionary” or “subversive” in nature. |
 | Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR) |  Egypt | The agency was created in 2017 to "devise and implement the media strategy for the Egyptian state." It engages in the blocking of news sites and messaging apps under the grounds that they publish false information. More than 500 websites and 11 messaging apps are currently inaccessible in Egypt. |
| Name | Country | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Call Centre Hubs |  Philippines | Consisting of supporters of President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, they disseminate fake memes, maliciously edited content and conduct targeted harassment campaigns with the aim of smearing the media and manipulating public opinion. They had launched a campaign to smear and boycott the ABS-CBN radio and TV network with the aim of blocking the renewal of its licence. |
| Cyber Jihadist Unit |  Sudan | The internet troll army that was created by the National Intelligence and Security Service, which spies on activists, politicians and journalists on social media. It also disseminates messages and articles with false information designed to discredit members of the current transitional government. |
| Force 47 |  Vietnam | An internet army of 10,100 cyber soldiers run by the Ministry of Public Security. They are tasked with setting up, moderating and posting on pro-state Facebook groups. The group is also considered the largest and most sophisticated influence network in Southeast Asia. [15] |
| Saudi Electronic Brigade |  Saudi Arabia | Led by Saud al-Qahtani, the then advisor to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the network of pro-Saudi Twitter trolls and bots used to produce more than 2,500 tweets a day consisting of false information and hate messages against the critics of the Government of Saudi Arabia. |
| Name | Country | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gamma Group |  Germany  United Kingdom | An Anglo-German technology company that sells surveillance software to governments and police forces around the world. The FinFisher software, which was developed by the company, has been used by undemocratic regimes to spy on activists and journalists. |
| Memento Labs (formerly known as Hacking Team) | Italy Saudi Arabia  Switzerland | The company created spyware capable of extracting files from a targeted device, intercepting emails and instant messages, and activating a device's webcam or microphone, which was then sold to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. |
| Mollitiam Industries |  Spain | A Spanish software company that developed tools for intercepting phone calls and emails. One of the customers of its product is the Colombian Armed Forces, which used it to illegally spy on supreme court judges, politicians, journalists and journalists’ sources. |
| NSO Group |  Israel | An Israeli technology firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which uses a WhatsApp flaw to install on targeted smartphones and send them infected files that open automatically. The spyware has been used to target human rights activists and journalists in various countries. |
| Zerodium (formerly known as Vupen) |  United States | An American information security company based in Washington, D.C. and Europe, which pays bounties to hackers and security researchers to be exclusively informed about their discoveries, which is used to spy on journalists to foreign governments. |
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely. Such freedom implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state; its preservation may be sought through a constitution or other legal protection and security. It is in opposition to paid press, where communities, police organizations, and governments are paid for their copyrights.
Mass media in India consists of several different means of communication: television, radio, internet, cinema, newspapers and magazines. Indian media was active since the late 18th century; the print media started in India as early as 1780. Radio broadcasting began in 1927. Today much of the media is controlled by large, corporations, which reap revenue from advertising, subscriptions, and sale of copyrighted material.
Reporters Without Borders is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as founded on the belief that everyone requires access to the news and information, in line with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that recognises the right to receive and share information regardless of frontiers, along with other international rights charters. RSF has consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the International Organisation of the Francophonie.
The Pakistani Constitution limits Censorship in Pakistan, but allows "reasonable restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan or public order or morality". Press freedom in Pakistan is limited by official censorship that restricts critical reporting and by the high level of violence against journalists. The armed forces, the judiciary, and religion are topics that frequently attract the government's attention.
The World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) since 2002 based upon the non-governmental organization's own assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and netizens have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom. Reporters Without Borders is careful to note that the WPFI only deals with press freedom and does not measure the quality of journalism in the countries it assesses, nor does it look at human rights violations in general.
The working conditions of journalists in Algeria have evolved since the 1962 independence. After 1990, the Code of Press was suppressed, allowing for greater freedom of press. However, with the civil war in the 1990s, more than 70 journalists were assassinated by terrorists. Sixty journalists were killed between 1993 and 1998 in Algeria.
There are over ten different languages in the Israeli media, with Hebrew as the predominant one. Press in Arabic caters to the Arab citizens of Israel, with readers from areas including those governed by the Palestinian National Authority. During the eighties and nineties, the Israeli press underwent a process of significant change as the media gradually came to be controlled by a limited number of organizations, whereas the papers published by political parties began to disappear. Today, three large, privately owned conglomerates based in Tel Aviv dominate the mass media in Israel.
Censorship in Israel is officially carried out by the Israeli Military Censor, a unit in the Israeli government officially tasked with carrying out preventive censorship regarding the publication of information that might affect the security of Israel. The body is headed by the Israeli Chief Censor, a military official appointed by Israel's Minister of Defense, who bestows upon the Chief Censor the authority to suppress information he deems compromising from being made public in the media, such as Israel's nuclear weapons program and Israel's military operations outside its borders. On average, 2240 press articles in Israel are censored by the Israeli Military Censor each year, approximately 240 of which in full, and around 2000 partially.
North Korea ranks among some of the most extreme censorship in the world, with the government able to take strict control over communications. North Korea sits at one of the lowest places of Reporters Without Borders' 2024 Press Freedom Index, ranking 177 out of the 180 countries investigated.
The mass media in Syria consists primarily of television, radio, Internet, film and print. The national language of Syria is Arabic but some publications and broadcasts are also available in English and French. While television is the most popular medium in Syria, the Internet has become a widely utilized vehicle to disseminate content. Transcending all available media, the government seeks to control what Syrians see by restricting coverage from outside sources. Publications and broadcasts are monitored by members of the government. All mass media outlets are under the supervision of the Ministry of Information. Third article of the 2013 Information Ministry guidelines stipulate that purpose of all media outlets is "to enlighten public opinion" in line with the ideological doctrines "of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party and the policy of the state".
This is a list of Australia's international rankings on a range of social, economic and other criteria.
This list of Internet censorship and surveillance by country provides information on the types and levels of Internet censorship and surveillance that is occurring in countries around the world.
Zerodium is an American information security company. The company was founded in 2015 with operations in Washington, D.C., and Europe. The company develops and acquires zero-day exploits from security researchers
Swati Chaturvedi is an Indian journalist. She has worked for various Indian newspapers and channels, like The Statesman, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, The Tribune, NDTV, DailyO, The Wire,Gulf News and Deccan Herald. She has also published two books; her first book is Daddy's Girl; her second book is titled I am a Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP's Digital Army. Swati Chaturvedi won the Prize for Courage, in 2018, awarded by Reporters Without Borders for journalism in a hostile environment.
The Quint is an English and Hindi language Indian general news and opinion website founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur after their exit from Network18. The publication's journalists have won three Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards and two Red Ink Awards.
Safety of journalists is the ability of journalists and media professionals to receive, produce and share information without facing physical or moral threats.
The Constitution of Nicaragua protects the freedom of the press. However, limitations imposed by the government have restrained the ability of independent media organizations to express divergent views on society and politics. Since 2007, freedom of the press has declined sharply, coinciding with the election of Daniel Ortega as president. Since Ortega's reelection, journalists in Nicaragua have faced escalating violence from the government. As of 2018, Nicaragua is ranked 90th on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.
Freedom of the press in China refers to the journalism standards and its freedom and censorship exercised by the government of China. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees "freedom of speech [and] of the press" which the government, in practice, routinely violates with total impunity, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Freedom of the press in India is legally protected by the Amendment to the constitution of India, while the sovereignty, national integrity, and moral principles are generally protected by the law of India to maintain a hybrid legal system for independent journalism. In India, media bias or misleading information is restricted under the certain constitutional amendments as described by the country's constitution. The media crime is covered by the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which is applicable to all substantive aspects of criminal law.
Fahad Shah is an Indian journalist from Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. He is the founder and editor of the news magazine The Kashmir Walla. He was a recipient of a Human Rights Press Award in 2021.
