National shutdown
Internet Services
Iraq has again experienced its second government-scheduled exam-related Internet shutdown since 1 June 2023. 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 has again experienced its second government-scheduled exam-related Internet shutdown since 1 June 2023. 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
IODA measurements show a drop in Internet connectivity in Iraq on 4 June beginning around 1:00 UTC and resuming around 5:30 UTC, similar to the first shutdown on 1 June.
Cloudflare Radar shows a similar outage, along with the first exam-related outage on 1 June.
Social media
The 2nd scheduled #Internet shutdown in #Iraq intended to prevent cheating on exams started at 0100 UTC.
— Cloudflare Radar (@CloudflareRadar) June 4, 2023
The shutdowns come after the Iraqi Minister of Communications announced it rejected a request to cut Internet services during the exams.https://t.co/KS6ASfYi67#KeepItOn pic.twitter.com/DIz2hwDbda