Past

National shutdown

Iraq has again experienced an exam-related Internet shutdown, the seventh such scheduled shut down 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.

  • Total Duration 4 hours

Flag of Iraq Iraq

Population
45,074,049

Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Partly Free

View full country profile for Iraq

Local impact

Iraq has again experienced an exam-related Internet shutdown, the seventh such scheduled shut down 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.

Other supporting information

Like the previous shutdowns, Cloudflare Radar measurements show the shutdown beginning around 01:00 UTC on Thursday, 15 June 2023.

Chart from Cloudflare Radar showing the Internet shutdown in Iraq on 15 June.
Chart from Cloudflare Radar showing the Internet shutdowns in Iraq from 1 June.

IODA measurements show a similar drop from 01:00 to 05:30 (UTC).

Chart from IODA showing measurements of Internet connectivity and the drop during the shutdown period.