Cloudwards rated internet freedom in Ukraine at 44 points out of 100. In the European segment of the rating, only Belarus and Russia were lower.

Ukraine ranks among the worst in Europe for internet freedom, while the US lags behind Mongolia
This is stated in the study Internet Freedom by Country in 2026 from Cloudwards. The authors assessed 171 countries on five criteria: access to torrents, adult content, social networks, political and civic content and VPN. To calculate, they used data from OONI Explorer, materials from Freedom House, as well as government announcements, court decisions and regulatory acts.

Ukraine, with a score of 44, was in the same group as Cambodia, El Salvador, Israel, and Somalia. For comparison, the United States received 64 points, the United Kingdom 52, South Korea 32, and Mongolia 76. That is, in this dimension, Ukraine was not only lower than most EU countries, but also lower than a number of states that are rarely mentioned as examples of digital freedom.

The list is topped by 11 countries with a score of 92. Among them are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway and Timor Leste. The worst result is in North Korea, which received 0 points. China, Iran, Pakistan and Russia each have 4 points. Separately, the authors emphasize that the most persecuted category in the world remains torrents: even in countries with the highest scores, this segment is not completely free due to copyright restrictions.

This ranking should be read not as a simple scale of «free or unfree internet», but as a cross-section of specific restrictions. Even the best-performing countries did not score 100, and Ukraine’s 44 points mean that the problem lies not in one single ban, but in a combination of restrictions on access to content, online expression and tools for circumventing blocks. For the reader, this essentially means one simple thing: in terms of rules for accessing the open internet, Ukraine is now closer to the bottom of the global list than to the European leaders.

Previously, dev.ua wrote about how the Ministry of Digital Affairs is developing an order that will fix specific Internet speed figures that are mandatory for all operators, but quality indicators will increase gradually until 2030.

Published Date:2026-04-07