Iraq: Four Exam-Related Internet Shutdowns in the Last Eight Days

Iraq

8 June, 2023 04:00 - 08:30 (4 hours)

Local Impact

Iraq has again experienced an exam-related Internet shutdown, the fourth such scheduled shutdown by the government 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.

Data and Analysis

IODA measurements show a drop in Internet connectivity in Iraq beginning around 1:00 UTC and resuming around 5:30 UTC. You can also see the previous three other shutdowns.

Cloudflare Radar shows the start of the outage, along with the three previous exam-related outages since 1 June.

Conversations

Iraq shutdowns the whole internet of the country to prevent cheating on final exams

Iraq experienced a widespread #internet disruption that affected the entire nation.

h/t @netblocks #Iraq #InternetShutDown #news https://t.co/Dlzzx4exeW pic.twitter.com/U7qTE1OPQJ

— ❌ (@MatthewRyanCase) June 1, 2023

Iraq shutdowns the whole internet of the country to prevent cheating on final exams #news https://t.co/o6FvSsQoua

— Fcuking news (@fcuking_news) June 1, 2023