Each year on World Day Against Cyber Censorship, Google and Reporters Without Borders join together to celebrate and hand out a prize for defending online freedom. This year, we’ll be gathering in Paris on March 12 to debate the issue of cyberfreedom and name our annual Netizen of the Year.

The 2012 nominees come from around the globe, from Russia to Syria to Brazil, China and beyond. Their geographic diversity a reflection of the growing impact of the Net. Once connected, each one of us is now able to share our thoughts and observations with the world.



Forty countries engage in active censorship, up from four a decade ago. Google products are blocked in about 25 of 125 countries in which we operate.

Reporters Without Borders inaugurated the annual World Day against Cyber Censorship in 2008, with the aim of protecting a single Internet, free, and accessible to all. Google joined in 2010 to sponsor the Netizen of the Year award, which recognises a user, or a blogger dissident who became famous for his work in defence of freedom of expression on the Net. An independent jury of press experts chooses the winner who receives prize money of EUR 2,500.

In 2010, the Netizen Prize was awarded to Iranian cyberfeminists.  Last year, it went to Nawaat, a group blog run by independent Tunisian bloggers. The nominees for the Netizen Award 2012 are:
  • Leonardo Sakamoto, Brazil: Journalist and professor, Sakamoto covered East Timor's war of independence and Angola's civil war. On his blog, he investigates the plight of Indian minorities in the Amazon.
  • Wukan, China: The village of Wukan (13,000 inhabitants) in Southern China was the scene of a violent revolt last December. Village inhabitants used the Internet and social network Weibo to mobilise public opinion.
  • Maikel Nabil Sanad, Egypt: This blogger denounced abuses by the army during the popular protests of spring 2011 and was imprisoned in post-revolutionary Egypt. 
  • Grigory Melkonyants, Russia: Melkonyant’s KartaNarusheniy.ru publishes an interactive map illustrating irregularities in Russian election campaigns. It allows users to locate and report fraud by posting photos, videos or audio recordings.
  • Media Centers Local Coordinating Committee, Syria: Groups of citizen journalists collect and disseminate, in real time, information and images of Syria's uprising. 
  • Paulus Le Van Son, Vietnam: Le Van Son is a 26-year old blogger covers religious and human rights issues. After he reported on anti-Chinese protests and police violence, he was arrested on August 3, 2011, in Hanoi.
We look forward to seeing you in Paris on March 12 to celebrate cyberfreedom and learn the name of the winner.

Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa