Editor's note: Free flow of information on the internet is the ideal state. When the internet began connecting people and became important in people's economic and social life across the world, users realized that the internet had all things of real life, both good and bad. Many countries, including Western nations, have started internet control to protect their citizens, economies and regimes. They have begun to regulate the internet in some way, with a number of them censoring defamatory speech or monitoring copyright infringement.

The United States
 
Jan 8, 2016, US government officials talked with executives from Silicon Valley's leading companies on the fight against Islamic State on the internet. After the talks, Twitter shut down 125,000 accounts connected to IS.

Sept 2011, to ease the pressure of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, the US government told Twitter to delete key words such as #occupywallst. The Twitter account of the Project for Civil Justice Fund was suspended.

Canada
 
The internet in Canada is regulated like in the United States, supported by a complex set of legally binding and privately mediated mechanisms.

According to the Canadian Criminal Code, a judge can issue a warrant authorizing the deletion of (publicly available) online hate propaganda from computer systems located within the jurisdiction of the court.

Australia
 
Oct 2008, the Australian government invested about $125 million to develop internet filters to block websites hosting illegal information, in the name of suppressing child pornography.

In June 2006, the Australian government announced an AU$116.6 million ($85 million) initiative, "Protecting Australian Families Online." The initiative included AU$93.3 million ($68 million) to be spent over three years to provide all families with free web filters.

New Zealand
 
The Department of Internal Affairs "takes a proactive role in prosecuting New Zealanders who trade objectionable material via the internet."

Both Australia and New Zealand have legislation addressing hate speech generally, and both have applied this legislation to the internet through different means.

Italy
 
Italy, like much of the European Union, regulates certain categories of websites, including child pornography and gambling. The government has attempted to regulate the internet with the same laws that apply to print and broadcast media.

In 2006, blogger Roberto Mancini was fined 13,500 euros for criticizing several journalists in northern Italy on his blog. Prosecutors investigated Google after a violent video of four Italian teenagers attacking a disabled student was posted on Google Video.

Germany
 
June 2009, the German parliament passed the Access Impediment Act that introduced internet blocking of sites found to distribute child pornography. Germany set up special internet police to monitor harmful online information.

In February 2005, Google Germany, Lycos Europe, MSN Germany, AOL Germany, Yahoo, and T-Online agreed to self-regulate their search results.

France
 
After 9/11 attacks, France cited laws to allow judges to decode encrypted e-mail messages for reasons of national defense, and authorities can require encryption firms to hand over their codes so that they can read encrypted online messages.

In 2008, France signed an agreement to block access to child pornography, as well as websites promoting racial violence or terrorism.

United Kingdom
 
Combating terrorism and preventing child abuse have been widely used by state agencies and private commercial actors to justify the implementation of interception of communications and direct filtering measures in the country.

In December 2008, a number of British internet service providers blocked a Wikipedia page displaying an image of an album cover from 1976 that portrayed a naked teenage girl.

Law requires that information that glorifies or incites terrorism be censored. Filtering technologies such as the "CleanFeed" system are criticized for not publicizing the list of filtered websites, which could lead to abuses.

South Korea
 
Government-delegated bodies are responsible for filtering content that is regulated by specific laws to protect youth, national security, and other national priorities. Ministries proposed a battery of legislation that would create a framework for addressing defamation, "false rumors," and "malicious postings."

In July 2008, Minister of Justice Kim Kyung-hwan introduced the crime of "cyber defamation," which punishes those who insult others through the internet with up to two years imprisonment or an $8,800 fine.

In June 2002, the Supreme Court struck down the provisions of the Telecommunications Business Act defining "harmful" content and granted the government unlimited authority to regulate harmful internet content.

Singapore
 
Singapore adopts a combination of licensing controls and legal pressures to regulate internet access and to limit the presence of objectionable content and conduct online.

In January 2006, a twenty-one-year-old was also charged with violating the Sedition Act after he posted four cartoons of Jesus on his blog.

In November 2006, Singapore Democratic Party activist Yap Keng Ho was sentenced to 10 days in jail after he refused to pay a fine for speaking at an illegal SDP rally, held in April 2006. Yap had posted a video of the speech on his blog and was ordered to remove it by a judge.

India
 
India has criminalized the electronic publication of obscene information. India's selective censorship of blogs and other content is often under the guise of security.

On July 13, 2006, the government ordered access to 17 websites blocked following the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, reportedly because the attackers were believed to have communicated by means of the blogosphere.

In 2006, filtering requests also came from individuals protesting content they considered offensive or obscene.

Kuwait
 
Internet filtering targets pornography, gay and lesbian content. Secular content and websites that are critical of Islam are also censored. Some websites that are related to religions other than Islam are blocked even though they are not necessarily critical of Islam.

In August 2007, a Kuwaiti journalist was arrested for comments posted on his blog by an anonymous user who insulted the emir of Kuwait.

On September 22, 2008, Kuwaiti authorities called for the blocking of YouTube in response to several videos declared "offensive to Muslims."

Saudi Arabia
 
Saudi Arabia filters sites related to opposition political groups, human rights issues, and religious content deemed offensive to Muslims. The government makes no secret of its filtering, which is explained on a section of the government's Internet Services Unit's website.

In November 2008, Saudi activists launched an online campaign to support human rights and called for a two-day public hunger strike to protest the detention without charges of human rights activists.