![]() ![]() This damage is both direct, in terms of the economic and human cost, and indirect, in that it forces people to use unsafe VPNs to try to circumvent the restrictions imposed upon them. Our goal in doing this work is to keep public attention focused on just how damaging internet shutdowns truly are. We are fiercely opposed to internet censorship and governments withholding access to the internet as a form of social control. Why Are We Tracking The Cost of Internet Shutdowns? This is an internet blackout in all but name. Severe throttling: where speeds have been reduced to 2G, which permits the use of SMS and voice calls only.These can typically be circumvented by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Social media shutdowns: where access to popular social media, such as Facebook, WhatsApp or Twitter has been blocked.This extreme measure cannot be directly circumvented. Internet blackouts: where internet access is completely cut off by the government.These three types of internet outage are defined as follows: In our Cost of Internet Shutdowns reports, we include social media shutdowns, internet blackouts and severe internet throttling in our calculations. It is based on indicators from the World Bank, ITU, Eurostat and US Census. This tool was developed by internet monitoring NGO Netblocks. This allows us to accurately calculate the economic impact of each internet shutdown using the COST tool. We monitor every national and region-wide deliberate internet outage and social media shutdown imposed by governments around the world in order to determine the duration and extent of the restrictions. How Do We Calculate The Cost of Internet Shutdowns? We have highlighted these abuses in order to illustrate the wider context in which these incidents of extreme internet censorship take place. Since 2020, we have also collated the additional human rights abuses perpetrated during these internet disruptions. Government internet outages in 22 countries lasting almost 35,000 hours cost the global economy $5.62 billion in 2021, a 40% increase in impact compared to 2020. The data table below shows the country-by-country breakdown of the global cost of internet shutdowns in 2021. Not only do these government internet outages infringe on citizens’ digital rights but they are also reckless acts of economic self-harm. This kind of deliberate disruption is internet censorship in its most extreme form. This Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns report calculates the total economic impact of every major deliberate internet outage and social media shutdown around the world in 2021. 29% with infringements on freedom of the press.69% of all internet disruptions were also associated with restrictions on freedom of assembly.Human rights impact: 73% of government internet outages were associated with additional human rights abuses, an increase of almost 80% compared with 2020:.Myanmar: the single most affected nation ($2.8 billion), followed by Nigeria ($1.45 billion) and India ($583 million).Twitter: the most blocked social media platform, suffering 17,302 hours of deliberate disruption – over 120% more than Facebook.504.4 million people affected by deliberate internet outages in 2021, up 88% year-on-year.34,595 hours of government internet disruptions.51 major internet outages took place in 22 countries.$5.62 billion: economic cost of internet shutdowns in 2021, up 40% from 2020. ![]()
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