Research reports and blog posts on OONI: Open Observatory of Network Interference

Censorship Chronicles: The systematic suppression of independent media in Russia

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Nearly three years ago, when Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine, it also initiated a parallel campaign: a censorship war targeting independent news media within the country.

Merely a week after the conflict started, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Russia started blocking access to several foreign news media websites (such as BBC and Deutsche Welle) and independent Russian news media websites (such as Meduza and New Times). Within a year, independent news media censorship in Russia had become pervasive. In our previous report, we confirmed the blocking of 139 news media domains in Russia.

Launch: Next generation OONI Run for community-driven censorship testing

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Image: OONI Run.

Today we are thrilled to announce the launch of OONI Run v2: the next generation version of OONI Run for community-driven censorship testing.

Originally launched in September 2017, OONI Run is a platform for creating mobile deep links that you can share with OONI Probe users to coordinate the testing of websites for censorship. Over the past 7 years, OONI Run has been used extensively by community members in Venezuela, Malaysia, India, and around the world as part of their censorship measurement campaigns aimed at monitoring and rapidly responding to emergent censorship events. To improve the OONI Run platform and better meet community needs, we previously conducted an OONI Run usability study, through which we documented extensive community feedback.

Animation: OONI Partner Gathering 2024

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to host the OONI Partner Gathering 2024: a two-day event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where we brought our partners from Asia and the Middle East together to exchange skills and knowledge on internet censorship research. Our goal was to strengthen global and regional collaborations on censorship measurement research and advocacy. We previously published a report which shares details about the event and its outcomes.

Today, we are excited to share a new animation about the OONI Partner Gathering 2024. This animation provides a glimpse into the event, highlighting the importance of community participation in censorship measurement research. Watch the animation below!

Job Opening: OONI Backend Developer

Thu, 10 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Are you a backend developer interested in defending human rights on the internet? We have a job opening for you!

The OONI team (a non-profit measuring internet censorship globally) is looking for a dedicated Backend Developer to work on our backend components and infrastructure, and to provide OONI data analysis support for our research efforts.

Job description

By joining our team, you will work on OONI’s backend components, ensuring the stable and reliable performance of our infrastructure in response to the growing global coverage of measurements. You will also provide OONI data analysis support for OONI research reports and in support of the research of our partners.

OONI Community Interviews: Chido Musodza

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Today we are excited to publish an interview with Chido Musodza, Program Associate, Community Engagement at Localization Lab. Chido is passionate about supporting minority language communities through the localization of open-source technology. Localization, on the one hand, makes tech products more inclusive and on the other hand, empowers the development of minority languages and their presence in digital space.

Watch Chido’s interview to learn more about the need for localization and community engagement!

Russia blocked OONI Explorer, a large open dataset on Internet censorship

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As of 11th September 2024, Russia has blocked one of our platforms: OONI Explorer.

OONI Explorer is one of the largest open datasets on internet censorship around the world. We first launched this web platform back in 2016 with the goal of enabling researchers, journalists, and human rights defenders to investigate internet censorship based on empirical network measurement data that is contributed by OONI Probe users worldwide. Every day, we publish new measurements from around the world in real-time.

Kazakhstan: TLS MITM attacks and blocking of news media, human rights, and circumvention tool sites

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In recent years, internet censorship in Kazakhstan has been reported quite extensively. As part of this study, OONI, Internet Freedom Kazakhstan (IFKZ), and Eurasian Digital Foundation collaborated to investigate internet censorship in Kazakhstan over the past year (between June 2023 to June 2024) through the analysis of empirical network measurement data.

In this report, we share OONI censorship measurement findings and relevant legal context. We found numerous news media, human rights, and circumvention tool websites blocked in Kazakhstan by means of TLS interference. We also found 7 distinct intermediate certificates signed by 4 distinct root CAs being used to carry out TLS man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, targeting at least 14 distinct domain names on at least 19 different networks in Kazakhstan. We share more details below.

OONI Partner Gathering 2024 in Malaysia

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We are excited to share that on 8th and 9th May 2024, we hosted an in-person OONI Partner Gathering in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As part of this 2-day event, we brought our partners (primarily from Asia and the Middle East) together to exchange skills and knowledge and strengthen our collaborations on internet censorship research and advocacy. In this report, we share details about the event and its outcomes.

OONI Community Interviews: Tawanda Mugari

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Today we are excited to publish an interview with Tawanda Mugari, Co-Founder & Geek in Chief of Digital Society of Africa (DSA). Through our partnership with DSA, we have had the opportunity to collaborate on research and training activities across southern Africa. Tawanda is a digital security expert, community leader and trainer who has been part of the OONI community for years. Watch Tawanda’s interview to learn more about his important work!

Tanzania: Surge in online LGBTIQ censorship and other targeted blocks

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This report documents the blocking of LGBTIQ websites and other targeted blocks in Tanzania based on the analysis of OONI data.

Key Findings

Our analysis of OONI data collected from Tanzania over the last year (between 1st January 2023 to 31st January 2024) reveals the extensive blocking of LGBTIQ sites, which correlates with the escalating discrimination and crackdown on LGBTIQ communities in Tanzania in recent years. Many other blocks identified as part of this study appear to be targeted in nature, as they involve very specific websites, while other (more popular) sites from the same category (e.g. social media, human rights) were found accessible.

Internet sanctions on Russian media: diverging actions and mixed effects

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The original post appeared on the blog of SIDN Labs.

As a response to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on organisations affiliated with the Russian Federation prohibiting them from broadcasting content in the EU, including online distribution. In a collaborative effort with researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago, Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), the University of Twente and the University of Amsterdam, we carried out a longitudinal traffic analysis to understand how internet service providers (ISPs) in different EU member states implement these sanctions. We found that the degree of blocking varies widely, both between and within individual EU member states. This raises questions about the effectiveness of the EU sanctions. This blog is a summary of the paper we published last month.

Year in Review: OONI in 2023

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As the end of 2023 approaches, we publish this post to share some OONI highlights from the last year. We also share some of the things we’ll be working on in 2024!

New OONI non-profit legal entity

OONI is now a registered NGO in Italy!

OONI Community Interviews: Ihueze Nwobilor

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today we are thrilled to publish an interview with Ihueze Nwobilor: Senior Programs Officer with Paradigm Initiative. Through our partnership with Paradigm Initiative, we have had the opportunity to collaborate on several research reports examining internet censorship in Nigeria. Ihueze’s work is focused on digital inclusion and on making digital technologies accessible to the under-served communities in numerous African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Since the blocking of Twitter in Nigeria in 2021, Ihueze has become an active OONI Probe user and gained a unique experience of using OONI data in his advocacy and government engagement work. Through his advocacy and litigation efforts with Paradigm Initiative, the Twitter ban in Nigeria was declared unlawful and access to the platform was restored.

Launch: New OONI Censorship Findings platform

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Image: OONI Censorship Findings platform.

Today we are thrilled to announce the launch of the OONI Censorship Findings platform!

Internet censorship is frequently being reported around the world, but how can we verify such events with empirical evidence?

Our new platform provides short reports on internet censorship around the world based on OONI’s open data. With the launch of the platform, we are publishing 20 reports on internet censorship that emerged in 2023. In response to emergent censorship events, this platform will be updated with new reports on an ongoing basis.

Measure all the Things! IMC Hackathon 2023

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

On 23rd October 2023, right before the Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2023, we co-hosted an internet measurement hackathon in collaboration with the Internet Society (ISOC), M-Lab, Censored Planet and IODA.

In this post we would like to share some of the projects that were developed as part of the hackathon. It was great to see how much was accomplished in such a short period of time!

The day started with an introduction to the various datasets from OONI’s Arturo, Censored Planet’s Armin, IODA’s Zach, ISOC’s Amreesh and M-Lab’s Lai Yi. Following the brief presentations, the participants formed teams to work on some of the specific challenges that we had proposed or came up with new ones.

OONI Community Interviews: Siti Nurliza

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today we are thrilled to publish an interview with Siti Nurliza: a talented data analyst and technologist with Sinar Project, one of our most dedicated and long-term partners who have led OONI censorship measurement efforts in Southeast Asia for more than 6 years!

Sinar Project is a civic tech initiative using open technology, open data and policy analysis to systematically make important information public and more accessible to the Malaysian people. Over the years, we collaborated with Sinar Project on measuring and reporting on internet censorship in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar through the use of OONI tools and data.

Grindr blocked in Jordan: Shrinking LGBTQ spaces

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Jordan recently blocked access to Grindr — the world’s largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people — adding to the list of social media apps banned in the country, including TikTok and Clubhouse.

OONI network measurement data collected from Jordan suggests that ISPs started blocking access to Grindr on August 8th 2023, and that the block remains ongoing.

This report shares OONI data on the blocking of Grindr in Jordan.

Background

Jordan is one of the few Middle Eastern countries where consensual same-sex sexual acts are not criminalised. Previously, the colonial-era Criminal Code Bill (1936) banned same-sex relations, but this was repealed in 1951 with the enactment of the country’s Penal Code. While homosexual conduct is technically legal in Jordan, the General Iftaa Department issued a religious ruling (Fatwa) in December 2021, declaring that “homosexuality is illegal under Islamic law”. Such religious rulings are not legally binding, but the General Iftaa Department acts in an advisory capacity to government branches and courts.

Join us at the IMC 2023 Hackathon on Network Interference using Open Data

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Are you attending the Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2023?

Join us at the IMC Hackathon on Network Interference using Open Data on Monday, 23rd October 2023, in Montreal, Canada. The hackathon is organized by the Internet Society (ISOC), the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), M-Lab and Censored Planet.

IMC is a yearly academic conference focusing on Internet measurement and analysis. The conference is sponsored by ACM SIGCOMM.

This IMC Hackathon will be about exploring, analyzing, and visualizing open network measurement data with a focus on identifying Internet censorship and Internet shutdown events.

Senegal: Social media blocks and network outages amid political unrest

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Violent protests erupted in Senegal on 1st June 2023 over the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. On the same day, OONI data collected from Senegal showed that ISPs started blocking access to several instant messaging apps and social media platforms (which were also reported by several news outlets). Those blocks appear to have been in place for a week (until 7th June 2023). Meanwhile, Cloudflare observed three disruptions to traffic from AS37649 (Free/Tigo), and two disruptions at Sudatel Senegal during this period. Following the arrest of Ousmane Sonko on 28th July 2023, the Senegalese Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy issued another shutdown order on 31st July 2023 to cut off mobile internet access.

China is blocking OONI

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We usually report on how other services are blocked. This time, we’re reporting on how our own services are blocked.

China recently started blocking access to our website (ooni.org) and censorship measurement app (OONI Probe).

This is not too surprising, given the fact that our work and tools center around measuring and exposing internet censorship (in China and around the world), and China has one of the most advanced and pervasive levels of internet censorship in the world. However, we’re not sure why China decided to start blocking us at this specific moment in time (as opposed to years ago), given that OONI measurements have been collected from China since 2014. The timing of OONI blocking in China (which seems to have started on 7th July 2023) leads us to think that it might be related to our recent reporting on the blocking of F-Droid in China in late June 2023. But we also reported on the blocking of Wikipedia in China back in 2019 (among other reports on censorship observed in China), and China did not block our services at the time.

New OONI Explorer features for investigating internet censorship through open data

Tue, 30 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

We’re excited to share that OONI Explorer includes new features for investigating internet censorship worldwide based on open data.

Specifically, these features include:

New domain-centric pages;
New network-centric pages;
New “internet outage” charts (integrating IODA, Google traffic, and Cloudflare Radar data), available in each country-specific and network-specific page;
New user feedback reporting mechanism, available through the “Verify” button in the banner of each OONI measurement page.

In this blog post, we share information about these new features.

Job Opening: OONI Project Manager

Tue, 02 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This job posting is now closed. Any applications received after 2023-06-28 will not be considered

Are you a project manager interested in defending human rights on the internet? We have a job opening for you!

The OONI team (a non-profit measuring internet censorship globally) is looking for a dedicated project manager to help us manage our software development work.

We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis.

Job description

By joining our team, you will help ensure that our software projects are on track, supporting a global community that relies on our tools for measuring and fighting internet censorship.

Brazil: OONI data on the blocking of Telegram

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Encontre a versão em português do relatório localizada pela Coding Rights aqui: https://codingrights.org/library-item/brasil-dados-da-ooni-sobre-o-bloqueio-do-telegram/

Two days ago, on 26th April 2023, Brazil started blocking access to Telegram.

On the same day, a federal judge in Brazil reportedly ordered the temporary suspension of Telegram in response to the messaging service’s alleged failure to share all information on neo-Nazi chat groups requested by the police. This information was reportedly requested as part of a school attacks inquiry, as Brazilian authorities investigate neo-Nazi groups that are believed to have used Telegram to incite school attacks. However, Telegram’s CEO claims (on his Telegram channel) that it’s impossible for them to comply with the order, as the judge requested data that is not feasible for them to obtain.

Throttling of news media amid Kazakhstan’s 2022 presidential election

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Snap presidential elections were held in Kazakhstan in November 2022, following a wave of unrest that started in January 2022. Following the victory of incumbent president Tokayev, early legislative elections were held in March 2023.

Through the analysis of OONI data, we observe the throttling of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Kazakhstan’s service websites in Kazakh and Russian (www.azattyq.org and rus.azattyq.org) in Kazakhstan, starting from 27th September 2022 and lasting until at least 11th April 2023. We also observe the temporary throttling of www.currenttime.tv during Kazakhstan’s 2022 presidential elections.

Introducing OONI Probe Web

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today, we are excited to announce the launch of OONI Probe Web: a new browser-based tool for measuring the blocking of websites.

We built OONI Probe Web in response to long-term community feedback, requesting a censorship measurement tool that can be run from a browser, without requiring the installation of any software. Our goal is to support rapid response efforts to emergent censorship events.

However, please note that OONI Probe Web is experimental, and what can be measured from a browser is very limited in comparison to what can be measured from an app. We therefore hope that the use of OONI Probe Web encourages further use of the OONI Probe app for more extensive and accurate testing.

How we're improving OONI data quality: An analysis of failed measurements

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In this blog post, we manually analyse failed OONI measurements to assess why they were classified as such, whether they are symptomatic of censorship, and whether they still carry helpful information for researchers. We focus on measurements from three countries (India, Pakistan, and Indonesia) and outline steps on how we will improve overall data quality.

Background

Web Connectivity is a network test that determines whether a web resource is accessible from the network where the user runs OONI Probe. To this end, Web Connectivity measures accessing the resource and compares the measurement results with another measurement performed by a control vantage point. After the measurement, OONI Probe submits a JSON document summarising its findings and the control vantage point findings to the OONI backend. In turn, the OONI data processing pipeline classifies all Web Connectivity measurements into four categories:

OONI measurements show ongoing internet censorship in Azerbaijan

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Azerbaijan is known to block access to independent news media websites – we previously reported on this in July 2021. At the time, we analyzed OONI measurements collected from Azerbaijan between January 2020 to May 2021 and found that ISPs in Azerbaijan were blocking access to several independent news media and circumvention tool sites. We also found that amid the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, ISPs in Azerbaijan temporarily blocked access to social media services, and attempted to block access to Tor and Psiphon.

How Internet censorship changed in Russia during the 1st year of military conflict in Ukraine

Fri, 24 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As of today, last year, Russia started its military operation in Ukraine. This was followed by increased levels of internet censorship, as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Russia started blocking access to several news media websites. In early March 2022, OONI published a report documenting these blocks, as well as the blocking of a site (200rf.com) that shares information about captured and killed Russian soldiers in Ukraine. OONI also reported that Russian ISPs started throttling access to Twitter on 26th February 2022, and switched to blocking it by 4th March 2022 – at which point, they also started blocking access to Facebook.

Ethiopia: Ongoing blocking of social media

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

On 9th February 2023, amid church split tensions and calls for anti-government protests, access to social media platforms (TikTok, Facebook, Telegram) was reportedly blocked in Ethiopia. Access Now also published a statement urging authorities in Ethiopia to stop blocking access to social media.

OONI data collected from Ethiopia provides signals of these blocks. Specifically, OONI data shows the ongoing blocking of Facebook and Telegram (since 9th February 2023) and YouTube (since 10th February 2023).

Blocking of Facebook

Pakistan: Blocking of Wikipedia and Deutsche Welle (DW)

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past weeks, access to Wikipedia and Deutsche Welle’s (DW) website was reportedly blocked in Pakistan.

As part of this report, we share OONI data from Pakistan that provides signals of these blocks. Specifically, OONI data shows that access to Wikipedia was temporarily restricted between 1st to 6th February 2023, while access to Deutsche Welle (DW) remains blocked since (at least) 16th January 2023.

Turkey: Throttling and DNS blocking of Twitter following deadly earthquake

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

On 6th February 2023, a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake (followed by many strong aftershocks) struck (southern and central) Turkey and (northern and western) Syria, resulting in more than 36,000 deaths.

In the aftermath of the earthquake (on 8th February 2023), access to Twitter was reportedly temporarily restricted. OONI data collected from Turkey provides evidence that the block was implemented through targeted throttling and DNS interference.

The following chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the testing of Twitter (twitter.com) on multiple networks in Turkey between 9th January 2023 to 9th February 2023.

iMAP 2022: New Research Reports on Internet Censorship in 8 Asian countries