LONDON (AP) – When army generals in Myanmar staged a coup last week, they briefly cut off Internet access in an apparent attempt to thwart protests. In Uganda, residents were unable to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media for weeks after the recent election. And, in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia, the Internet has fallen for months amid a wider conflict.
Around the world, shutting down the Internet has become an increasingly popular tactic of repressive and authoritarian regimes and some illiberal democracies. Digital rights groups say governments use them to stifle dissent, silence opposition voices or cover up human rights abuses, raising concerns about restricting freedom of expression.
Regimes often cut off online access in response to protests or civil unrest, especially around elections, as they try to maintain control of power by restricting the flow of information, researchers say. It is the digital equivalent of taking control of the local radio and television station that was part of the pre-Internet game book for despots and rebels.
“Over the years, Internet closures have been massively underreported or misinformed,” said Alp Toker, founder of the Internet control organization Netblocks. The world is “starting to realize what’s going on,” as it documents efforts like its expansion, he said.
Last year there were 93 major Internet outages in 21 countries, according to a report by Top10VPN, a UK-based digital privacy and security research group. The list does not include places like China and North Korea, where the government closely controls or restricts the Internet. Blackouts can range from all Internet blackouts to blocking social networking platforms or severely limiting Internet speed, according to the report.
Internet cuts have political, economic and humanitarian costs, experts warned. The effects are exacerbated by COVID-19 blockages that force activities such as online school classes.
The closures reveal a broader battle for control of the Internet. In the West, efforts to curb social media platforms have raised competent concerns about restricting freedom of expression and limiting harmful information, the latter sometimes used by authoritarian regimes to justify restrictions.
In Myanmar, Internet access was cut off for about 24 hours last weekend, in an apparent bid to lead protests against the seizure of military power and the arrest of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and his allies. On Sunday afternoon, netizens reported that access to data from their mobile phones was suddenly regained.
Telenor ASA of Norway, which runs one of Myanmar’s leading wireless operators, said the communications ministry cited “the circulation of fake news, the stability of the nation and the public interest” to order the operators who temporarily close networks.
Telenor said he had to comply with local laws. “We deeply regret the impact the shutdown has on the people of Myanmar,” he said.
It is a family decision by the Myanmar government, which carried out one of the longest internet shutdowns in the world in the states of Rakhine and Chin with the aim of disrupting the operations of an armed ethnic group. The cut began in June 2019 and was only lifted on February 3rd.
Another long-term Internet shutdown is in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, which has been suffocated since fighting began in early November, the latest in a series of interruptions with no sign of service return soon. This has been a challenge to know how many civilians have been killed, to what extent fighting continues or if people are starting to starve, as some have warned.
In Uganda, restrictions on social media, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, went into effect ahead of the January 14 presidential election, along with a total shutdown on the Internet on the eve of voting. Authorities said it was to prevent opposition supporters from organizing potentially dangerous street protests.
The sidewalks of social media rose on Wednesday, with the exception of Facebook. Longtime leader Yoweri Museveni, who still had his biggest challenge to power from popular singer turned legislator Bobi Wine, had been angry over the removal of the social network before the vote on what he said were fake accounts. linked to his party.
In Belarus, the Internet crashed 61 hours after the August 9 presidential election, marking the first Internet blackout in Europe. The service was cut after election results handed victory to authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, but the vote was widely seen as manipulated and sparked huge protests. Access remained unstable for months, especially during the weekend protests, when mobile internet service went down repeatedly.
The risk is that regular blackouts will return to normal, Toker said.
“Get a kind of Pavlovian response in which both the country’s public and the international community at large will be insensitive to these stops,” he said, considering it the “greatest risk to our collective freedom in the digital age.” “.
Internet closures are also common in democratic India, where the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increasingly used them to target its political opposition. According to a follow-up post, its Hindu nationalist government has ordered hundreds of regional shutdowns.
Most have been in disputed Kashmir, which endured an 18-month blockade of high-speed mobile service that ended last week. But they have also been deployed elsewhere for anti-government demonstrations, including mass protests by farmers who have shaken the Modi administration.
“It used to be authoritarian governments, but we’re seeing practice becoming more common in democracies like India,” said Darrell West, president of the Brookings Institution’s governance studies firm, which has studied Internet..
“The risk is that once a democracy does, others will be tempted to do the same. It can start at the local level to deal with the concern, but then it spreads more widely.
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Face Anna in Nairobi, Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, Aijaz Hussain in Srinigar, India, and Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi contributed to this report.
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