Bahrain has been connected to the internet since 1995, and made it readily available to its citizens.[1] The country's domain suffix is '.bh'.[2] A 2004 study showed a liberal filtering system is used in Bahrain, one which can be easily bypassed, however more recent events have shown more sophisticated and pervasive filtering.[3] In January 2009, Bahrain has started blocking a vastly increased number of sites through the Information Affairs Authority (IAA). The new filtering has had a noticeable impact in internet access speeds for all traffic.
In 2010, there were about 694,000 internet users in Bahrain, or 55% of the population.[4] According to the World Bank, over 90% of the population is connected to the internet between 2010 and 2014.[5] This later rose to 96.4% (an estimated 1.29 million online) in 2015, thus making Bahrain the country with the highest internet penetration percentage in the Middle East.[6]
- ^ "The Internet in the Mideast and North Africa: Censorship and Free Expression". Human Rights Watch. Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
- ^ "Internet domain suffixes". ComputerHope.com. Retrieved 25 November 2007.
- ^ "Internet Filtering in Bahrain 2004-2005". Open Net Initiative. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
- ^ "World Development Indicators and Global Development Finance". Google Public Data. World Bank. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- ^ "Internet users (per 100 people)". World Bank. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ "Middle East Internet Usage Statistics". Internet World Stats. Retrieved 31 May 2015.