The Economic Impacts of Internet Shutdowns

But the world is a global village, and governments are finding it more difficult to preclude themselves from critical news cycles or international outrage at assaults on the fundamental rights of citizens. Fearing citizen unrest, some governments have, often as a last resort, implemented an internet shutdown: a disruption of internet-based communication that renders the online space inaccessible or effectively unavailable. While outages can sometimes be caused by events such as natural disasters, cyberattacks or deep-sea cable disruptions, government-enforced shutdowns are deliberate. Internet shutdowns are employed by governments seeking to control the flow of information to a population, often without justifiable reason.  According to Access Now, a not-for-profit organization that champions digital civil rights, there were 196 recorded internet shutdowns in 2018, a rise from 106 in 2017. In 2019 this number rose to 213, spread across 33 countries. Governments often cite public safety and security concerns as reasons for shutting down the internet, but this power has been wielded as a pre-emptive defence against the threat of violence during election periods and, more absurdly, during national school examinations to curb malpractice.

Shutdowns are only made possible because, across the world, internet access is regulated by the government. In some cases, such as with Ethiopia’s Ethio Telecom, internet services are the government’s property to control. During an internet shutdown, a government typically pressures Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to restrict customer access to social media sites, or to lower network speeds thereby making it difficult to stream or upload videos. The primary aim stated by such authorities is the need to maintain law and order, an argument used by the Iranian government in November 2019 when it disconnected the country from the world for six days following mass unrest. Yet there is no direct evidence to show that these tactics work. Instead, limiting access to authentic information undermines trust in government systems and infrastructure, and risks damage to a country’s reputation.

Shutdowns sometimes occur in phases, with restrictions or blocks placed on access to specific or foreign websites. Total shutdowns are easier to implement in countries with centralized internet structures or with ageing infrastructure, as these factors leave access at the discretion of government authorities. In such cases, critical voices are reduced and occasionally wholly silenced amid human rights violations.