National shutdown
Internet Services
Iraq is experiencing its longest stretch without an Internet Shutdown this month following the eighth scheduled exam-related Internet shutdown in the early morning of 17 June. As we have repeatedly written about here on Pulse, Internet shutdowns cause great harm to a country’s economy and society and are in our opinion NOT the appropriate mechanism to cope with potential exam cheating.
- Total Duration 4 hours
Iraq
- Population
- 47,020,774
Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Partly Free
Local impact
Iraq is experiencing its longest stretch without an Internet Shutdown this month following the eighth scheduled exam-related Internet shutdown in the early morning of 17 June. As we have repeatedly written about here on Pulse, Internet shutdowns cause great harm to a country’s economy and society and are in our opinion NOT the appropriate mechanism to cope with potential exam cheating.
Related documentation
Local news programs indicated that the Iraq Ministry of Education announced the shutdown.
Below is a screenshot of the Iraq Primary School exam schedule happening in June 2023 as per the Iraqi Ministry of Education page on Facebook.
Other supporting information
On Saturday, 17 June, Iraq experienced its eighth Internet shutdown since the beginning of the month. Like the previous seven shutdowns, IODA measurements show a similar drop from 01:00 to 05:30 (UTC).
The shutdown also showed up in Cloudflare Radar measurements.
If we look at shutdown activity over the past month via IODA, there has been less activity in recent days. However, this is expected to change soon with high school exams beginning later this week.
