National shutdown
Iraq authorities ordered Internet services to be suspended again on the morning of 23 May 2024, between 6:00 and 8:00 local time (+3 UTC). The shutdown is the second this week and follows an announcement by Iraq's Ministry of Communication on 19 May 2024 stating that they will enact the Ministry of Education's request to order Internet shutdowns on exam days in May and June as part of its efforts to prevent cheating. In an open letter to the Prime Minister of Iraq, the #KeepItOn coalition, which the Internet Society is a member, recently urged authorities to abstain from implementing Internet shutdowns during exams. The letter notes the lack of evidence demonstrating their impact on exam cheating, the economic cost of shutdowns on the country, and their violation of human rights. Iraq ordered more than 40 Internet shutdowns last year, most of which were related to exams.
- Total Duration 2 hours
Iraq
- Population
- 45,074,049
Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Partly Free
Local impact
Iraq authorities ordered Internet services to be suspended again on the morning of 23 May 2024, between 6:00 and 8:00 local time (+3 UTC). The shutdown is the second this week and follows an announcement by Iraq's Ministry of Communication on 19 May 2024 stating that they will enact the Ministry of Education's request to order Internet shutdowns on exam days in May and June as part of its efforts to prevent cheating. In an open letter to the Prime Minister of Iraq, the #KeepItOn coalition, which the Internet Society is a member, recently urged authorities to abstain from implementing Internet shutdowns during exams. The letter notes the lack of evidence demonstrating their impact on exam cheating, the economic cost of shutdowns on the country, and their violation of human rights. Iraq ordered more than 40 Internet shutdowns last year, most of which were related to exams.
Related documentation
[caption id="attachment_17403" align="alignnone" width="178"]
A screenshot of an announcement on the Ministry of Communications website on 19 May 2024 regarding planned Internet shutdowns related to exam period.[/caption]
Other supporting information
Cloudflare Radar and Google Transparency Report recorded drops in Internet traffic and Google Search usage on 23 May 2024 from 3:00 UTC (6:00 local time) to 5:00 UTC (8:00 local time). These were similar to the drops from the 21 May shutdown, though in the case of Cloudflare, lasted longer.
Unlike the shutdown two days before, IODA recorded only a very small drop in Internet connectivity in Iraq, but the traffic dropped in a pattern consistent to Tuesday's shutdown between 3:00 UTC (6:00 local time) and 5:00 UTC (8:00 local time). see graph below showing the two most recent shutdown events.
Looking again at IODA, we can see that AS50710 (EarthLink) and AS59588 have changed their shutdown method from two days prior.
Combined with the evidence above, this suggests that unlike the shutdown event on 21 May, and years gone by, local networks are not shutting down their networks (stopping announcing their BGP) but implementing content blocking, potentially through Domain Name System (DNS) manipulation (learn more).
If local laws permit, one way to circumvent this is to use a global DNS resolution service or a VPN.