Stop the Internet, the new wildcard of authoritarian regimes

When the generals come in Myanmar staged a coup last week, briefly disconnecting the internet connection in an apparent attempt to stop the protests. In Uganda, users were denied access to Facebook, Twitter and other social media for weeks after the election. And it has been months since you can surf the web in the northern Tigray region Ethiopia, engaged in armed conflict.

Across the world, cutting off internet access has become an increasingly popular tactic of repressive and authoritarian regimes, and of some insecure democraciesDigital rights groups point out that governments also use these measures suppress disagreements, silence opposition, or cover up human rights violations, worryingly restricting freedom of expression.

Regimes often shut down Internet access in response to protests or civil unrest, especially during election periods, in a try to stay in power by limiting the flow of information, the researchers said. It is the digital equivalent of control of local radio and television networks, which were part of the handbook of despots and rebels.

“For years, internet outages have been unreported or misreported,” said Alp Toker, founder of internet monitoring organization Netblocks. The world ‘begins to realize what is happening’ as projects grow that, like yours, make efforts to document it.

Last year there were 93 major internet outages in 21 countries, according to a report from Top10VPN, a UK digital privacy and security research group. The list does not include places like China and North Korea, where the government strictly controls or restricts Internet connections.The restrictions can range from total blocks to access cuts to specific social platforms or sharp drops in connection speed, the report said.

Have these measurements political, economic and humanitarian costsexperts warned. Its effects are exacerbated by the COVID-19 quarantines, which have pushed activities like teaching into cyberspace.

They also reflect a broader struggle for control of the Internet. In the West, efforts to control social media have raised competing concerns about restrictions on free speech and how to limit harmful information. Authoritarian regimes sometimes use the latter argument to justify their actions.

In MyanmarInternet access was cut for about 24 hours last weekend in an apparent attempt to cut off protests against the takeover of the army and the arrest of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her allies. On Sunday afternoon, netizens said Internet access from their cell phones had suddenly been restored.

Norwegian Telenor ASA, which runs one of Myanmar’s main cell phone operators, said the Ministry of Communications had called “fake news circulation, national stability and public good” by ordering operators to disconnect their networks in a temporary manner.

Telenor said it had to comply with local laws. “We deeply regret the impact the cutbacks are having on the people of Myanmar,” the company said.

In Belarus internet access has been cut off for 61 hours after the presidential elections of January 9, in the first European internet blockade. The service was discontinued after authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko became the winner according to official results, although the vote was widely considered falsified and sparked huge protests. Access remained unstable for months, especially during the weekend protests

There is a risk that the usual cuts will be normalizedToker said.

“You get a somewhat ‘Pavlovian’ response where both the public in the country and the international community are impervious to these cuts,” he said, describing it as “the greatest risk to our collective freedom in the digital age.”

Internet outages are also common in democracy Indiawhere Prime Minister Narendra Modi uses them increasingly against their political oppositionHis Hindu nationalist government has ordered hundreds of regional courts, according to a monitoring site.

Most were controversial Cashmere, what went without fast mobile internet for 18 months, until last weekBut they have also been used in anti-government protests, such as the massive peasant brands that have shaken Modi’s government.

“It used to be authoritarian governments that did this, but we see the practice becoming more common in democracies like India,” said Darrell West, vice president for governance studies at Brookings Institution, who has studied Internet disturbances.

“The risk is that once a democracy does it, others will be tempted to do the same. It could start locally to manage protests, but then expand further.

(With AP information)

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