Internet freedom around the world has declined for the sixteenth consecutive year, according to the latest "Freedom on the Internet" report from Freedom House. Among the 38 countries surveyed, Serbia lands squarely in the "partly free" category, keeping company in Europe with only one other country rated the same way: Hungary.
Serbia's score and what it means
Serbia received 66 points out of 100, a score it shares with Brazil and Ghana. That places it two points ahead of Ukraine and three behind Hungary, which scored 69. Within Europe, only Turkey fares worse, scoring 31 points and landing in the "not free" bracket. Freedom House calculates its index across three categories: obstacles to accessing the internet, limits on content, and violations of user rights. Countries are scored from zero, representing the least freedom, to 100, representing the most. At the top of the global ranking sits Estonia with 91 points, followed by Costa Rica and Taiwan. At the bottom are China, Iran and Myanmar, each scoring just nine.
Serbia's standing is not static. In the 2025 edition of the same report, Freedom House moved Serbia from the "free" category into "partly free," citing the detention of people who had expressed support for anti-government protests online. The latest score, a one-point increase to 66, suggests the situation has not improved in any meaningful sense, but it also has not deteriorated sharply since then. In the broader "Freedom in the World 2026" report, Serbia scored 53 points, down three from the previous year, with Freedom House pointing to retaliation against university professors who joined protests and to what it describes as excessive use of force by police.
Protests, surveillance and digital mobilization
Freedom House singles out Serbia as one of several countries, alongside India, Iran, Hungary, Kenya and Cuba, where citizens used digital tools to organize mass protests that became turning points in national political life. In Serbia's case, the report refers to the student-led demonstrations that began after the collapse of a canopy at a railway station in 2024, which killed sixteen people. According to the report, authorities responded to the resulting protest movement with heavy-handed measures, even though much of the organizing relied on digital platforms rather than traditional networks.
The report also cites findings from Amnesty International alleging that police and state services deployed spyware against journalists and activists. Surveillance of this kind, when documented, typically raises concerns that go beyond individual privacy violations. It can chill reporting, discourage source protection and make activists and dissidents warier of using digital channels at all, undermining the very tools that allow citizens to mobilize in the first place. Freedom House frames this as part of a broader pattern: authoritarian-leaning governments increasingly combine internet shutdowns, legal pressure and intrusive monitoring to limit how effectively digital tools can be used against them.
Why the ranking matters beyond the numbers
The report also flags a newer source of concern: the use of laws governing online content, including rules aimed at artificial intelligence-generated material, as tools to restrict expression rather than protect it. This is a global trend, not one specific to Serbia, but it adds another layer of pressure on independent media and civil society in countries already under scrutiny.
For Serbia, the timing carries particular weight. The country is approaching elections in which digital channels remain a primary route for independent media and opposition voices to reach the public, especially where traditional broadcast media are seen as closely aligned with the government. Freedom House's assessments also intersect with Serbia's path toward European Union membership, since media freedom and freedom of expression are formally part of the negotiating framework. The Serbian government has previously disputed Freedom House's conclusions, and the organization's findings reflect its own methodology rather than an official verdict. Still, with Serbia positioned just one notch above Europe's lowest-ranked country, the report adds measurable weight to long-standing concerns about the shrinking space for independent digital expression in the country.