"Freedom on the Net 2015," released Wednesday by Freedom House, a nonprofit organization promoting democracy and free expression globally categorized Sri Lanka as 'partly free' with a score of 47 on a 1-100 scale, 100 being the worst.
The report on the country highlighted that the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2015 presidential election and the progressive politics of his successor, Maithripala Sirisena, have strengthened internet freedom in the island nation.
Both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe promised to run a government that stays clear of blocking websites, intimidating journalists, and other draconian practices that characterized the previous government's relationship with online and traditional media, including the curtailment of editorial freedom.
In line with these assurances, all websites earlier blocked by the previous government were accessible by May 2015, the report on the country said.
Over the last year, there has been a considerable decline in rights violations, including violence, prosecutions and intimidation, it highlighted.
According to the report, Internet penetration in Sri Lanka continues to increase every year due to affordable internet rates provided by ISPs.
The Freedom on the Net report rated 18 countries as 'free', classified 28 as 'partly free' and 19 as 'not free'. The report says 14 of the 65 countries adopted laws in the past year to expand government surveillance.
The most free among the 65 countries assessed was Iceland, followed by Estonia, Canada, Germany, Australia, the US and Japan.
At the bottom of the list was China, worse than runners-up Syria and Iran in terms of online freedom. Cuba and Ethiopia rounded out the bottom five.
