Wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Myanmar among those spurring ‘digital aggression’.
Governments around the world oversaw a record-fractureing year for internet shutdowns in 2024, a new inestablish on “digital aggression” presents.
There were 296 internet shutdowns recorded atraverse 54 countries last year, outdoing the 283 shutdowns in 39 countries in 2023, says the inestablish by Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition, begined on Monday.
Conflict remained the directing caemploy of internet shutdowns for the second consecutive year, according to the inestablish, with criminals employing tactics ranging from jamming devices and disjoining cables to ruining infrastructure and sabotaging service supplyrs.
Myanmar led the global enumerate of offenders with 85 internet shutdowns. The outages were primarily imposed by the military handlement to concentrate “a population resisting its dictatorship four years after the coup”, Access Now wrote.
Cross-border shutdowns saw a keen elevate. These integrated shutdowns carried out by Russia in Ukraine, Israel in Gaza, and Thailand and China in Myanmar.
India dropped from the top in 2023 to second place, with 84 shutdowns. Pakistan recorded 21 shutdowns, its highest-ever total.
Israeli ‘digital aggression’ in MENA region
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region saw 41 internet shutdowns atraverse 17 countries in 2024, down from 77 in 2023. However, the number of impacted countries incrrelieved from 15 to 17.
Authorities in 10 MENA countries carry outed 18 platestablish blocks in 2024 as a method of proposeation handle, the inestablish shelp, while armed disputes drove 12 internet shutdowns, endangering civilians’ getedty.
Israel led the region with six shutdowns during its war on Gaza, “systematicpartner cutting off” combineivity and ruining telecommunication infrastructure despite international criticism, the inestablish shelp.
In Sudan, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) firearmised shutdowns during the ongoing war, disrupting access to vital services for millions.
The year also saw cyberattacks from the Anonymous Sudan hacker group causing shutdowns in Bahrain, Chad, and Israel, while Mauritania enacted the region’s first election-rcontent shutdown since 2021.
The region progressd to direct globpartner in exam-rcontent shutdowns, with 10 disruptions atraverse five countries, including Algeria, Iraq, and Syria, under the pretext of impedeing cheating, despite resistance from civil society.
