The Absurd Excuses Countries Give for Shutting Off Internet Access

Earlier this year, Iraq blocked the entire internet to keep sixth-graders from cheating on exams. In this picture from 2015, Iraqi students attend class in the village of al-Mazraa.

 

In June, officials in Jammu, India, shut down mobile internet in advance of a traditional wrestling tournament. Of course, the half-naked competitors weren’t planning to grapple with their devices in hand, but organizers were fearful of repeating what happened in 2014. That year, riots had broken out because the site of the tournament was staged on what local residents claimed was an old burial ground. The government believed that shutting down the internet would stop people from inciting each other to violence once again. Later that day, the different factions agreed upon a process to determine how to move the tournament to a new site, and officials turned the internet back on.

This bizarre incident highlights the challenge of fighting internet shutdowns. From the brief disruption in Turkey of social media services during the failed coup, to the blocking of WhatsApp earlier this week in Brazil, internet shutdowns are taking more and more complex forms. Frequently, communications services are cut off shortly before gross human rights violations take place. In a separate incident later in June in nearby Kashmir, India, for example, a journalist was unable to get online after officials once again cut off mobile internet in the region. When he came back online he learned eight people had been killed during the blackout. Businesses lose money and emergency services can’t do their jobs. The Software Freedom Law Centre in New Delhi has recorded 30 disruptions in India over the past three years. In 2016 alone, the advocacy group Access Now, where I work, has documented nearly 30 shutdowns worldwide. This week in Ghana an official reiterated his intention to block social media during its election—the most critical moment in a democracy—four months ahead of the vote.