During March of 2020, China held a press conference that announced they would be banning American journalists that work for some of America’s biggest newspaper outlets. This resulted after Trump’s administration limiting the number of Chinese citizens who worked for Chinese news organizations. American journalists working in China “will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People’s Republic of China.” This is their response to the United States' “unreasonable oppression” the Chinese media is experiencing in the U.S. China is notorious for having strict policies on the release of media that could depict their country poorly. These American journalists have to return their working visas and without visas are required by law to move back to America.

In the United States of America, the first amendment of the US constitution grants anyone the right to freedom of speech, religion, and the press. It is one of the few countries where citizens are not suppressed or punished for their opinions. This is not the case for many other countries. China, for example, maintains censorship over all media adept to reach wide audiences. Television, radio, video games, literature, the Internet, and many other things are monitored by Chinese officials. As of 2017, thirty-eight Chinese journalists were imprisoned for expressing their opinions on press freedom. Chinese rights activist, Liu Xiaobo was incarcerated for eleven years for promoting freedom of speech and democratic reforms. Liu won a Nobel Peace Prize for all his hard work, but censors blocked the news in China. Pen America’s 2016 report on the constraints of foreign journalists from China says “The hostile environment against foreign journalists is being fueled by efforts to publicly mark Western media outlets as not only biased but Part of a coordinated international effort to damage China’s reputation.”  

Another country that is listed as the most strict, according to CPJ is Eritrea. Eritrea is a country in Eastern Africa. Only the state is allowed to publish news. The last international journalist was banned in 2007. Even people who work for the government live in fear of arrest for reporting anything that could be seen debased. In 2001, the last privately-owned media outlets were deferred and their journalists were imprisoned. In Africa, Eritrea has the most jailed journalists. All Internet service providers are required to the government-controlled gateway. According to the U.N. International Telecommunication Union, less than 1 percent of the population gets online. Five of the journalists arrested in 2001 may have died in prison, but because Eritrea is so private we cannot confirm their deaths.

Along with China and Eritrea, other countries are cracking down on journalists and freedom of the press. But not in revolt against Trump. Many of these other countries are worried about the image of how they are handling the coronavirus to stay positive. Not only to keep their citizens calm but to also keep themselves from looking as idiotic as the United States has looked throughout this year. In South Africa, the government has implemented a new law that makes it a crime to publish false information retaining the COVID-19 pandemic. Legislation in Hungary proposed the same concept to prevent misinformation from being spread of the Coronavirus. Violators in Hungary could be imprisoned for up to five years. In Honduras, the government has responded to the pandemic in the same manner, but instead suspended the part of the constitution that “prohibits censorship and protect the right to free expression.” 

These types of regulations on media are not realistic. With the continual growing internet industry and increasing popularity in social media, the government will not be able to censor everyone who makes an Instagram post. Other than countries such as North Korea, most government censorship monitors news outlets and excludes social media. That’s not to say that they do not have “black-out” days, where they shut down social media sites when there seems to be a breach of security. Overall, they can not stop their citizens from posting from, let’s say, an international VPN. When Trump threatened to shut down TikTok, many teens opted to do just that to avoid losing their favorite app. In countries where freedom of the press is suppressed, social media can be used as an important resource to inform the public on what the government does not want the people to know. Social media has been a key resource in helping other countries citizens gain their freedom of expression. 

As of November 6th, 2020, the hashtag “collateralfreedom” has been trending on sites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Within these efforts, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has restored online access to eight websites, in the past month, that have been censored in their own country for publishing information about the pandemic that the government did not approve. The process involves copying sites and posting them on international servers, so they can’t be censored by their country's government. They have unblocked 34 sites within the past year in five different countries. This censorship has kept access to news and information about COVID-19, which is crucial during these times. 

Social media has played an important role in the Black Lives Matter protests, Australian bushfires, COVID-19 pandemic, Beirut explosion, West Coast fires, and many other newsworthy events. Maybe not so much for older adults, but for young teens and adults, social media is the main form of news. It is constantly growing and rather than hearing things from one source the Internet, along with social media, provides them with accessible information that is seen from every perspective. Americans don’t even know how lucky they are in the aspect of their freedom to express themselves through news, media, and the press. Hopefully, these other countries will gain the privilege to have their voices heard.