Iraq

Internet blackouts: 209 hours

209 hours Social media shutdowns: 54 hours

54 hours Total cost of shutdowns: $2,319.5M

The most significant internet blackouts were in October amid anti-government protests due to rising unemployment, failing public services and corruption. The blackouts formed part of a brutal government clampdown that claimed at least 220 lives and injured many more. Over 600 people were wounded on October 3 alone.

“In cutting communication links, authorities hoped to curtail the demonstrators’ ability to organise” – The Guardian

Internet shutdowns restrict citizens’ ability to raise awareness of police brutality, however research suggests it may actually add to violence.

The government also restricted access to the internet earlier in the year in a bid to prevent cheating in national exams in June. This was repeated in September.

Sudan

Internet blackouts: 864 hours

864 hours Social media shutdowns: 696 hours

696 hours Total cost of shutdowns: $1,866.3M

January- February: A 68-day social media shutdown that began in December 2018 (NB: we’re only counting financial loss from Jan 1 2019) was implemented after protests erupted across the country calling on Omar al-Bashir, who had been in power for thirty years, to step down.

“Since December, internet users in Sudan have resorted to VPN circumvention tools to remain connected to social platforms” – Netblocks

April: Social media blocks were re-introduced as demonstrations increased in intensity. The restrictions tried – and failed – to stop the circulation of posts like the tweet below, which was retweeted almost 20,000 times, becoming iconic in the process.

Access was restored after al-Bashir finally declared that he would step down after top military generals turned against the ruler.

June – July: As protests continued following a military coup, the internet was restricted to prevent the flow of information, such as the recovery of at least 40 bodies from the River Nile. This persisted until the protests ended with the formal establishment of a transitional government at the beginning of August.

India

Specific regions only

Internet blackouts: 4,196 hours

4,196 hours Social media shutdowns: N/A

N/A Total cost of shutdowns: $1,329.8M

India imposes internet restrictions more often than any other country, with over 100 shutdowns documented in 2019. As they tend to be highly-targeted, even down to the level of blacking out individual city districts for a few hours while security forces try to restore order, many of these incidents have not been included in this report, which instead focused on larger region-wide shutdowns. The full economic impact is therefore likely to be higher even than our $1.3 billion figure.

The most significant disruptions have been in the turbulent Kashmir region, where after intermittent shutdowns in the first half of the year, access has been blocked since August, with no end to restrictions in sight.

The [Kashmir] shutdown is now the longest ever imposed in a democracy – The Washington Post

Indian authorities have attempted to justify the digital blackout on national security grounds due to unrest in Kashmir following their controversial decision to strip India’s only Muslim-majority region of its autonomy.

Elsewhere violent reactions in December to another change to Indian law, which has been viewed as another bid to marginalize the country’s Muslim minority, prompted internet blackouts across many districts of Uttar Pradesh, along with the nearby regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.

The other major shutdown also had its root in religious tensions. A Supreme Court decision in November ruling on the dispute over the Ayodhya holy site that’s simmered between Hindus and Muslims for over a century prompted shutdowns “to avoid the spread of misinformation” in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, and also in the Rajashthan region.

Venezuela

Internet blackouts: 60 hours

60 hours Social media shutdowns: 111 hours

111 hours Total cost of shutdowns: $1,072.6M

The Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro responded with aggressive, rolling internet restrictions when the nation was plunged into constitutional crisis in January after National Assembly President Juan Guaidó disputed the presidency by declaring himself interim president of the country. This was in response to elections that had been widely denounced as illegitimate.

Shutdowns were highly strategic. Frequent, short-lived and highly targeted blocks of social media platforms aimed to prevent live streams of Guaidó being widely shared. YouTube was the most heavily targeted platform, often being affected for just an hour.

They occurred when Guaidó had planned press conferences, was speaking in the National Assembly or addressing crowds during protests.

Cantv, the country’s largest telecom firm, is a state-owned operator, which made it easier to implement nationwide internet shutdowns.

Several nationwide electricity blackouts – not included in our figures as these were unintentional – also prevented internet access during the crisis.

Notably, Wikipedia was also blocked in January, following an “edit war” over the legitimate president.