Report: Efforts toward data localization increasing globally

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation released a report on increasing prevalence of global barriers to international data transfers. Measures to localize data have spiked since 2017, with the number of countries restricting cross-border data flows jumping from 35 to 62 and overall restrictions from 67 to 144. The ITIF listed China, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa as the countries most restrictive on data flows. The group said policymakers should work to avoid data localization, opining it "makes the Internet less accessible and secure, more costly and complicated, and less innovative."