Content note: The following post contains references to war crimes, sexual assault, murder, and death
.
There is a complete lack of transparency.
Cutting the internet means cutting us off from the outside world.
I can say that the internet and communications blackout were as impactful as the bombings, destruction, and killings.
These are the words of people who have experienced years-long
internet shutdowns with no end in sight
. Alarmingly, the number of such prolonged shutdowns has steadily risen each year, as perpetrators around the world quietly decide to
keep people cut off from the internet indefinitely
.
For more information about ongoing shutdowns, explore our new dashboard
below
.
As we write, people in parts of Myanmar continue facing repeated and prolonged internet shutdowns
amid deadly violence
, as the junta’s
control and surveillance of communications networks
creates an “
internet dead zone
” where few dare to speak openly against the regime. In Tigray, Ethiopia, meanwhile,
new internet shutdowns
are raising fears that the same population that was
cut off from the internet for over two years during a bloody civil war
will once again be disconnected and in even greater danger. And
the list goes on
.
Authorities that use prolonged or repeated shutdowns to
control the flow of information
, quell
protests
, manipulate
electoral processes
, or assert political power
during
or
after conflict
are collectively
punishing
and isolating entire populations. The impact is deep and enduring; even when authorities claim to have
ended a shutdown
, connectivity often does not return in any meaningful way. While every shutdown is a
disaster for human rights
, these indefinite shutdowns
erode trust that a usable, open, secure, and inclusive internet will ever return
. As new research from Vodafone confirms, this has
profoundly negative consequences
for people’s lives and livelihoods.
Following are direct tes
… [more]
