The following sections of the report examine the circumstances around each instance of governments cutting or restricting access to the internet.
We have looked at each country individually and broken out the duration of each type of internet outage. We have also identified the nature of any additional human rights abuses in each country associated with the government internet outages.
Countries are ordered and grouped according to the overall economic impact of their government’s internet restrictions over the course of the year.
Use the following links to jump straight to the relevant country-by-country section:
Internet Shutdowns With Over $500 Million Cost
India
- Internet blackouts: 1,655 hours
- bandwidth throttling: 7,272 hours
- Total cost of internet outages: $2,779.3 million
- Human rights abuses: Right to peaceful assembly & freedom of press
India continued to deliberately cut internet access more than any other country: over 75 times in 2020.[1] Most of these short internet outages were highly-targeted, affecting groups of villages or individual city districts and so were not included in this report, which focuses on larger region-wide internet shutdowns. The true economic cost is therefore likely to be even higher than the $2.8 billion we have calculated.
In Kashmir, authorities lifted internet restrictions in March 2020,[2] seven months on from the controversial move to strip the region of its autonomy. However, even after internet access was restored, authorities continued to severely throttle internet speeds, with citizens only able to access 2G connections.
“The limiting of networks to 2G has made it impossible for online classes to function adequately. Graduate students and teachers have been unable to participate in conferences or have their papers published, causing willful harm to their careers and violating the rights to education.” – Human Rights Watch[3]
Belarus
- Internet blackouts: 218 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $336.4 million
- Human rights abuses: Right to peaceful assembly, election interference, press freedoms
Authorities in Belarus cut internet access in August and September to try to stifle protests following a controversial presidential election, whose results were described as “falsified” by the international community.[4]
In response, protesters turned to privacy apps including Telegram and VPN services to continue organizing protests.[5] During the period of internet restrictions, we documented a 650% spike in VPN demand. Such demand is typically focused on popular free VPN services, many of which are unsafe.
Internet Shutdowns With Costs of $100-$250 million
Yemen
- Internet blackouts: 912 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $236.8 million
Damage to an undersea cable reduced Yemen’s internet capacity by 80% in January. Some have claimed it was a deliberate act of sabotage, however this allegation remains unconfirmed.
“Regardless of who or what is responsible, Yemenis were effectively cut off from one another and the rest of the world.” Access Now said in a statement.[6]
Myanmar
- Internet blackouts: 5,160 hours
- Bandwidth throttling: 3,648 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $189.9 million
- Human rights abuses: Press freedoms
Internet outages in the Chin and Rakhine regions of Myanmar continued in 2020, with an internet blackout continuing until early August. However, even after internet access was restored, authorities continued to throttle internet speeds.
In an article for TIME magazine, Kyaw Hsan Hlaing, a student, activist and freelance journalist from Rakhine State, described how the restrictions had impacted people’s livelihood: “Although 2G services were restored this August, 3G and 4G networks remain blocked in all but one of the affected townships, leaving people unable to perform a basic internet search.”[7]
Azerbaijan
- Social media shutdowns: 1,128 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $122.6 million
- Human rights abuses: Press freedoms
Azerbaijan authorities blocked access to Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter from late September into November as conflict broke out with neighbouring Armenia over the contested territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.[16]
During the period of the internet outages, we documented a 1,646% increase in VPN demand as citizens attempted to circumvent the internet censorship.
Ethiopia
- Internet blackouts: 1,536 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $111.3 million
- Human rights abuses: Right to peaceful assembly, election interference, press freedoms
For more than three weeks between June and July, internet access in Ethiopia was cut off as protests swept the country following the killing of a popular singer.[9][10]
This internet outage was followed by another communications blackout in the Tigray region after violent conflict broke out in November.
Internet Shutdowns With $10-100 Million Cost
Sudan
- Internet blackouts: 36 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $68.7 million
Authorities in Sudan once again restricted access to the internet in 2020 after similar internet outages cost the country almost $2 billion in 2019.
The Sudan authorities said they cut access to the internet to stop students from cheating during exams.
According to a report by Global Voices: “The mechanism used for this shutdown – disabling mobile data – was the same one used in the 2019 shutdown, when local internet services provides (ISPs) in Sudan only disabled the access point name or APN.”[11]
Turkey
- Social media shutdowns: 18 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $51.1 million
The Turkish government blocked access to Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter following an attack against Turkish troops in Syria in February.[12]
The internet outage led to a surge in demand for VPN services, which increased by 810% during the social media blocks.
Syria
- Internet blackouts: 79 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $35.9 million
Syria has repeatedly shut down the internet during exam periods, a practice that had began in 2016.[13] In 2020, internet access was cut for 4-6 hour periods in June, July, and August as exams took place.
Tanzania
- Internet blackouts: 264 hours
- Social media shutdowns: 168 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $27.5 million
- Human rights abuses: Right to peaceful assembly, election interference, press freedoms
The Tanzanian authorities blocked access to social media on the eve of the country’s presidential elections in October.
The internet outage meant “Twitter, WhatsApp, backend servers for Instagram and some Google services including Gmail and Translate [were] generally or partially unavailable,” according to Netblocks.[14]
There was also a partial internet blackout in the run up to the election and several days after, with internet access reduced to 90% of normal levels.
Twitter has been blocked since the initial social media shutdown, although the disruptions have not been consistent. During this period, we documented an enormous 18,823% spike in demand for VPNs.
Chad
- Internet blackouts: 672 hours
- Social media shutdowns: 3,936 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $23.1 million
Chad continued its long trend of blocking access to social media and restricting its citizens’ access to the internet.
Authorities tried to justified the most recent internet outage on the basis that it was to prevent the spread of messages “inciting hate and division” after videos of a military officer opening fire on a civilian mechanic began circulating.[15]
Internet Shutdowns With $1-10 Million Cost
Algeria
- Internet blackouts: 2 hours
- Social media shutdowns: 24 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $9.6 million
Algerian authorities once again restricted access to the internet during exams in 2020. A 24-hour social media shutdown was followed by a two-hour internet blackout in September.[16] In response, we documented an 828% increase in VPN demand.
The country has a history of shutting down the internet during exams, with restrictions costing almost $200 million in 2019.
Guinea
- Internet blackouts: 102 hours
- Social media shutdowns: 136 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $6.1 million
- Human rights abuses: Election Interference
Internet access was restricted in March and October 2020 in Guinea during elections. On both occasions authorities implemented social media shutdowns and internet blackouts to prevent the free flow of information and interfere with the democratic process.[17][18]
Our team observed a rise in VPN demand around the time of each vote. In March VPN demand increased by 1,257%, while in October it surged by 3,043%, as citizens prepared for internet outages.
Jordan
- Social media shutdowns: 92 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $4.9 million
The Jordan government blocked seven popular social media platforms: Telegram, Facebook, Viber, Line, Tango, Whatsapp and IMO, daily between 10am and 2pm for much of July, during the country’s national high school exams.[19]
Venezuela
- Social media shutdowns: 2 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $2.4 million
- Human rights abuses: Election interference
State-run internet service provider (ISP) ABA CANTV blocked access to Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter on Jan 5 2020 as the members of the opposition were blocked from entering the National Assembly ahead of a key leadership vote.[20][21]
This caused a spike in VPN demand by 1,731% as locals attempted to bypass the internet restrictions.
Iran
- Internet blackouts: 9 hours
- Total cost of internet restrictions: $2 million
- Human rights abuses: Right to peaceful assembly
In July, October and November, authorities in Iran briefly cut citizens’ access to the internet. While the overall cost of these internet outages was not comparable with the previous year, hundreds of thousands of people remained cut-off from the internet during politically sensitive moments.[22][23][24]
Internet Shutdowns With Costs of Under $1M
Iraq
Internet access was cut for 8 hours in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah province on December 7 following clashes between protesters and security forces.[25][26]
Somalia
Internet access was cut off for 31 hours in Somalia over July 26-27.[27] The internet blackout began following the unexpected removal of long-serving Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire.[28][29]
Burundi
Authorities in Burundi blocked access to social media in August as citizens went to the polls. Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp were all affected during the 48-hour restriction.[30] During this period, we recorded a 5,686% spike in demand for VPN.
Kyrgyzstan
A partial internet cut followed after protests broke out in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, due to alleged election interference in Kyrgyzstan’s recent parliamentary elections. [31][32]
Togo
As the polls closed on election day, restrictions were placed on Facebook and WhatsApp through Togo’s main state operator, Togo Telecom.[33]