Internet Shutdowns

• Past

  National shutdown

  For approximately 24 hours, Internet access on mobile providers was shutdown, with multiple media reports indicating this shutdown was at the request of  the government of Bangladesh amidst renewed protests against the current government. On Monday, 5 August, reports emerged that the Prime Minister of Bangladesh had resigned and fled the country. As part of that, formation of an interim government was announced and Internet access began to be restored. Measurements as of 05 August at 13:00 UTC indicate that Internet connectivity is restored across the country. Data from Cloudflare Radar, IODA, and Google's Transparency Report showed the drop in traffic from mobile networks beginning around 07:30 am UTC on 4 August. This followed a government-mandated Internet shutdown for five days starting on July 18 and an ongoing blocking of various online services since July 16. On Monday, 5 August, there was a complete drop in all Internet connectivity visible in Google and IODA measurements, from approximately 4:30 - 7:30 UTC. After that, data shows a gradual restoration of Internet connectivity across all networks.

  Bangladesh

  • Start 4 August 2024 07:30 UTC
  • End 5 August 2024 07:30 UTC
  • Total Duration 1 day
• Past

  National shutdown

  At the request of the Syrian Ministry of Education, the Internet in Syria was suspended on the morning of 4 August 2024, between 7:00 and 10:15 local time (+3 UTC) ahead of the second round of high school exams as per the announcement by Syria Telecom. The company issued a schedule for the Internet and telecommunication services shut down. Along with this shutdown event, mobile telecommunication is also scheduled to be shut off between 9:00 and 10:15 local time (+3 UTC). The first shutdown event in this series happened on 25 July. The #KeepItOn coalition, which the Internet Society is a member, recently urged Syrian and other authorities to abstain from implementing Internet shutdowns during exams, noting the lack of evidence demonstrating their impact on exam cheating, the economic cost of shutdowns on countries, and their violation of human rights. Since 2019, Syria has ordered multiple Internet shutdowns, all related to exams.

  Syria

  • Start 4 August 2024 04:00 UTC
  • End 4 August 2024 07:15 UTC
  • Total Duration 3 hours
• Past

  Service blocking

  Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, X (Formerly Twitter), YouTube

  OONI data shows high anomalies in connecting to social media and messaging services in Bangladesh. This new data, combined with local reports, suggest that these services are being blocked again less than four days after they returned to normal. This new service-blocking event follows reports of a new Internet shutdown event in the country amidst renewed protests against the current government. [Update 6 Aug] OONI data shows that connectivity to social media and messaging services started to return to normal on 5 August, with low or no anomalies recorded on 6 August.

  Bangladesh

  • Start 4 August 2024 00:00 UTC
  • End 5 August 2024 00:00 UTC
  • Total Duration 1 day
• Past

  National shutdown

  At the request of the Syrian Ministry of Education, the Internet in Syria was suspended on the morning of 1 Augist 2024, between 7:00 and 10:30 local time (+3 UTC) ahead of the second round of high school exams as per the announcement by Syria Telecom. The company issued a schedule for the Internet and telecommunication services shut down. Along with this shutdown event, mobile telecommunication is also scheduled to be shut off between 9:00 and 10:30 local time (+3 UTC). The first shutdown event in this series happened on 25 July. The #KeepItOn coalition, which the Internet Society is a member, recently urged Syrian and other authorities to abstain from implementing Internet shutdowns during exams, noting the lack of evidence demonstrating their impact on exam cheating, the economic cost of shutdowns on countries, and their violation of human rights. Since 2019, Syria has ordered multiple Internet shutdowns, all related to exams.

  Syria

  • Start 1 August 2024 04:00 UTC
  • End 1 August 2024 07:30 UTC
  • Total Duration 3 hours

July 2024

• Past

  National shutdown

  At the request of the Syrian Ministry of Education, the Internet in Syria was suspended on the morning of 30 July 2024, between 7:00 and 10:15 local time (+3 UTC) ahead of the second round of high school exams as per announcement by Syria Telecom. The company issued a schedule for the Internet and telecommunication services shutdown. Along with this shutdown event, mobile telecommunication is also scheduled to be shut off between 9:00 and 10:15 local time (+3 UTC). The first shutdown event in this series happend on 25 July. The #KeepItOn coalition, which the Internet Society is a member, recently urged Syrian and other authorities to abstain from implementing Internet shutdowns during exams, noting the lack of evidence demonstrating their impact on exam cheating, the economic cost of shutdowns on countries, and their violation of human rights. Since 2019, Syria has ordered multiple Internet shutdowns, all related to exams.

  Syria

  • Start 30 July 2024 04:00 UTC
  • End 30 July 2024 07:15 UTC
  • Total Duration 3 hours
• Past

  National shutdown

  At the request of the Syrian Ministry of Education, the Internet in Syria was suspended on the morning of 29 July 2024, between 7:00 and 9:45 local time (+3 UTC) ahead of the second day of the third round of high school exams as per the announcement by Syria Telecom. The company issued a schedule for the Internet and telecommunication services shut down. Along with this shutdown event, mobile telecommunication is also scheduled to be shut off between 9:00 and 9:45 local time (+3 UTC). The first shutdown event in this series happend on 25 July. The #KeepItOn coalition, which the Internet Society is a member, recently urged Syrian and other authorities to abstain from implementing Internet shutdowns during exams, noting the lack of evidence demonstrating their impact on exam cheating, the economic cost of shutdowns on countries, and their violation of human rights. Since 2019, Syria has ordered multiple Internet shutdowns, all related to exams.

  Syria

  • Start 29 July 2024 04:00 UTC
  • End 29 July 2024 07:45 UTC
  • Total Duration 3 hours
• Past

  National shutdown

  At the request of the Syrian Ministry of Education, the Internet in Syria was suspended on the morning of 28 July 2024, between 7:00 and 10:30 local time (+3 UTC) ahead of the second day of the second round of high school exams as per announcement by Syria Telecom. The company issued a schedule for the Internet and telecommunication services shutdown. Along with this shutdown event, mobile telecommunication is also scheduled to be shut off between 9:00 and 10:30 local time (+3 UTC). The first shutdown event in this series happend on 25 July. The #KeepItOn coalition, which the Internet Society is a member, recently urged Syrian and other authorities to abstain from implementing Internet shutdowns during exams, noting the lack of evidence demonstrating their impact on exam cheating, the economic cost of shutdowns on countries, and their violation of human rights. Since 2019, Syria has ordered multiple Internet shutdowns, all related to exams.

  Syria

  • Start 28 July 2024 04:00 UTC
  • End 28 July 2024 07:30 UTC
  • Total Duration 3 hours
• Past

  National shutdown

  At the request of the Syrian Ministry of Education, the Internet in Syria was suspended on the morning of 25 July 2024, between 7:00 and 10:30 local time (+3 UTC) ahead of the first day of the second round of high school exams as per announcement by Syria Telecom. The company issued a schedule for the Internet and telecommunication services shutdown. Along with this shutdown event, mobile telecommunication is also scheduled to be shut off between 9:00 and 10:30 local time (+3 UTC). The #KeepItOn coalition, which the Internet Society is a member, recently urged Syrian and other authorities to abstain from implementing Internet shutdowns during exams, noting the lack of evidence demonstrating their impact on exam cheating, the economic cost of shutdowns on countries, and their violation of human rights. Syria ordered multiple Internet shutdowns, all related to exams.

  Syria

  • Start 25 July 2024 04:00 UTC
  • End 25 July 2024 07:30 UTC
  • Total Duration 3 hours
• Past

  Regional shutdown

  Haryana

  Nuh authorities have ordered Internet and SMS services to be suspended for 24 hours starting from 18:00 local time on 21 July. The orders were issued by the Additional Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi to prevent any disturbance to peace and public order in the Nuh district amid the Brajmandal Jalabhishek Shobha Yatra prosession happening on Monday 22 July. According to one report, Nuh Deputy Commissioner Dhirendra Khadgata said the exemptions have been provided for personal SMS, mobile recharges, banking SMS, voice calls, corporate and domestic broadband, and leased line Internet.

  India

  • Start 21 July 2024 18:00 UTC
  • End 22 July 2024 18:00 UTC
  • Total Duration 1 day
• Ongoing

  Regional shutdown

  Annobón

  Equatorial Guinea authorities ordered fixed and mobile Internet services to be suspended in Annobón from 20 July, following demonstrations against environmental exploitation, restricting people’s ability to exercise their human rights. Further reports suggest that the Ministry of Transport, Post, and Telecommunications ordered  Starlink to suspend its satellite Internet from 7 August.

  Equatorial Guinea

  • Start 20 July 2024 00:00 UTC
  • End Ongoing
  • Total Duration 588 days, 10 hours