Washington: Internet freedom suffered this year as a growing number of countries stepped up efforts to spy on users and censor online postings, a global survey showed Thursday.

The report by the non-government watchdog group Freedom House said online freedom declined in 36 of 65 countries surveyed.

In some cases, governments use revelations about surveillance by the US National Security Agency to justify efforts to boost their own monitoring of Internet users and to crack down on dissent.

Internet freedom suffered this year as a growing number of countries stepped up efforts to spy on users and censor online postings. (Internet, via Shutterstock)

"Countries are adopting laws that legitimize existing repression and effectively criminalize online dissent," the report said.

"More people are being arrested for their Internet activity than ever before, online media outlets are increasingly pressured to censor themselves or face legal penalties, and private companies are facing new demands to comply with government requests for data or deletions."

The lowest score for Internet freedom was in Iran, followed closely by Syria, China, Cuba, Ethiopia and Uzbekistan.

Nineteen countries were rated "free," with the highest scores for Iceland and Estonia. Thirty-one countries were rated partly free and 19 "not free."

India score on the index improved from 47 in 2013 to 42 this year.

But a majority of countries saw declines in freedom.

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Online freedom declines in growing number of countries but India's position improves