"Access Now and the #KeepItOn Coalition documented at least 155 internet shutdown1 incidents around the world in 29 countries. When compared to 2018 and 2019, this is a lower number of shutdowns. However, the smaller number of shutdowns is not an indication of the lessened impact of a shutdown or an overall increase in digital rights. For a world that was and continues to be under lockdown or at least some forms of movement restriction, 155 intentional communication disruptions came at a high cost to the fundamental human rights of people around the world. Countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Yemen, Ethiopia, and others entrenched the use of shutdowns even during the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, Ethiopia’s national internet blackout affected more than 100 million people for more than two weeks during the height of the pandemic in the country. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh implored the government of Bangladesh to turn on the internet as COVID-19 spread through the refugee camps, but they were ignored. In 2019 and 2020, Myanmar perpetrated one of the world’s longest internet shutdowns, affecting some of the world’s most vulnerable people. The Burmese government proceeded to expand mobile internet throttling across the nine townships in Rakhine and Chin states even as the pandemic spread, restricting residents of these townships from access to critical and life-saving information." (p.2-3)
Contents
I. Internet shutdowns in 2020: a global overview, 2
II. Trends in 2020, 7
III. Internet shutdowns during elections and protests, 17
IV. New countries added to the shame list, 19
Cuba -- Tanzania -- Kenya
V. Who stood out in 2020? 21
Yemen: ICT infrastructure a war bargaining chip, 21
Belarus: 121 days of internet shutdowns, 22
355 days of internet shutdowns in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, 23
Myanmar: 19 months and counting, 24
India entrenches use of shutdowns to suppress protests, cuts off Jammu and Kashmir, 26
The threat of an internet shutdown in the United States, 28
International organizations standing against shutdowns 28
VI. Enabling and profiting from censorship: the case of Sandvine and Allot, 29
VII. Challenging internet shutdowns on legal grounds: the case of Togo and Indonesia, 31