In 2018, the Citizen Lab released an investigation into the global proliferation of Internet filtering systems manufactured by the Canadian company, Netsweeper, Inc. Using a combination of publicly available IP scanning, network measurement data, and other technical tests, they identified Netsweeper installations designed to filter Internet content operational on networks in 30 countries and focused on 10 with past histories of human rights challenges: Afghanistan, Bahrain, India, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, UAE, and Yemen. Websites blocked in these countries include religious content, political campaigns, and media websites. Of particular interest was Netsweeper's ‘Alternative Lifestyles’ category, which appears to have as one of its principal purposes the blocking of non-pornographic LGBTQ content, including that offered by civil rights and advocacy organizations, HIV/AIDS prevention organizations, and LGBTQ media and cultural groups. The Citizen Lab called on government agencies to abandon the act of filtering LGBT content.