Sir Tim made the comparison as part of the BBC's Democracy Day.

"The UK's ahead, not just in open data but getting people connected," he said.

But he addedthat while one usually thinks of countries such as Iran and Syria in relation to government spying, but that in other ways the US and UK "are famous too".

The UK scored quite low on the Web Index produced by Sir Tim's World Wide Web Foundation and released in December. It scored above some of the more famous countries that have limited the freedom of the web — but far lower than its rating on most other metrics.

The Web Index was released in December, when Sir Tim said that the internet was less free, safe and equal than ever. It is becoming increasingly dangerous that its power is being used to "further concentrate economic and political power in the hands of the few", the report said.