The Fight Against Internet Shutdowns

The idea of waking up to a world without access to news, social media, or the ability to contact loved ones is difficult to grasp, especially for those of us who have grown up with the internet always at our fingertips. As technology evolves, one alarming consequence is that authoritarian regimes worldwide have recognised the power they hold to control the internet space and assert greater control over the speech and eventually thoughts of their populations. Shutting down the internet, often under the guise of combating misinformation and maintaining order, may appear prima facie an effective method of silencing opposition and activists - however, even for such repressive states, internet shutdowns are at best a double-edged sword. 

The results of these methods extend far beyond the political arena, capable of crippling communities suffering from military conflict and natural disasters. In Myanmar, families once able to stay connected through mobile networks and encrypted messaging apps were cut off for weeks last year during rising violence. This disruption typically focuses on news deemed against the relevant regime’s interests. Iran, for example, frequently shuts down the internet to suppress protests. During the 2019 "Bloody November" protests, the Iranian Government ordered a nine-day shutdown, preventing activists from organising and sharing information. Similarly, during mass protests in 2021, Cuba's government shut down social media and messaging platforms, also to prevent demonstrators from coordinating. 

Internet shutdowns, perhaps more importantly, disrupt essential services like emergency aid and healthcare. In Myanmar, humanitarian organisations like the International Rescue Committee (IRC) have struggled to coordinate food and medical supplies due to the dearth of digital communication. Nearly 15 million people in Myanmar will face acute food insecurity in 2025, and these shutdowns worsen the hunger crisis by delaying aid. In Ethiopia, the Tigray blackout left millions of people without reliable internet access, obstructing data necessary to coordinate aid convoys and bring news to the wider world. The impact is often especially severe on healthcare.  In Myanmar, the military’s restrictions on VPNs have eliminated telehealth services that once connected rural patients with urban doctors. Hospitals under attack and dealing with crumbling infrastructure have been helpless in the face of the burgeoning spread of diseases like malaria, as medical teams cannot communicate or receive vital updates. These shutdowns have a devastating human cost, particularly for communities reliant on digital systems for survival.

When it comes to education, students are left unable to access online learning platforms. In Kashmir millions of students were disconnected from their studies in 2019. These shutdowns risk creating a ‘lost generation’. China's Great Firewall exemplifies another form of internet control. While not a traditional shutdown, it blocks access to foreign websites and censors domestic content deemed undesirable by the government, significantly restricting access to unregulated knowledge and limiting freedom of expression.

The global response to the growing issue of internet shutdowns has been slow and indecisive. In 2024, the UN Human Rights Council proposed a Global Digital Compact, recognising internet access as a fundamental human right. This initiative, supported by NGOs like Access Now, faces resistance from states like China and Russia, who back and indeed are regimes that employ digital repression. International sanctions have targeted telecom companies complicit in enforcing shutdowns, such as Mytel, which collaborates with Myanmar’s military junta to enforce internet blackouts. Geopolitical gridlock limits the effectiveness of these efforts.

Several other innovative solutions have emerged. In Myanmar, civil society groups have developed offline apps that use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Wi-Fi Direct, such as the Bridgefy app, to establish decentralised communication networks, bypassing the junta’s efforts to cut connectivity.  Mesh networks, which enable peer-to-peer communication, have become vital tools for resistance, especially when central internet service providers (ISPs) are blocked. Satellite internet services, like Starlink, offer a critical alternative by providing high-speed connectivity through Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations. Despite the Myanmar government’s ban on satellite dishes, smuggling networks have emerged to transport satellite equipment across borders, ensuring continued access to digital resources.

As internet shutdowns rise, there are understandable concerns that digital repression could become normalised. However we can see that these tactics, while temporarily disruptive, are far from foolproof. Authoritarian control in the digital age remains fragile, as these measures are often more effective at obstructing aid delivery than at preventing unrest. People continue to find ways to circumvent digital repression, exploiting aforementioned technologies to resist. Civil society resistance and international pressure could, therefore, make real headway: advances in resistance methods combined with targeted sanctions may raise the cost of digital repression to a point where authoritarian regimes switch tack, and simply give up.  

Image: Flickr/Mike MacKenzie

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