London: When the army generals in Myanmar held a coup last week, they blocked access to the Internet in an attempt to indirectly prevent protests. Uganda residents could not use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms for weeks after the recent election. At the same time, the internet has been closed for months amid widespread conflict in the Northern Tigray region of Ethiopia.
Worldwide, shutting down the Internet has become a popular strategy for oppressive and autocratic regimes and some conservative democracies. Digital rights groups say that governments use it to hide the voice of disagreement, silence the voice of opponents or violate human rights violations and raise concerns about limiting freedom of expression is.
Researchers say that online access is often blocked in response to protests or civil unrest, especially during elections as they try to maintain their hold on power by stopping the flow of information. It is the digital equivalent of controlling local TV and radio stations that were used against the rebels during pre-Internet times.
Alp Tokar, the founder of internet monitoring organization NetBlocks, said, “Information about internet shutdown in the last few years is much less known. Efforts like him have been able to document what is happening to the world through efforts of documentation. ” According to a report by the UK-based digital privacy and security research group Top 10 VPN, 93 major Internet shutdowns occurred in 21 countries last year.
This list does not include countries such as China and North Korea, where the government strictly controls or blocks the Internet. Experts warned that the report states that the Internet ban has political, economic, and human consequences. The effects have been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 lockdown, which has led to activities such as running school classes online. She has been
In Myanmar, internet access was banned for 24 hours last week to prevent protests from the military to gain control and indirect protests against the detention of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and his colleagues. Internet users reported that data service on their mobile phones suddenly resumed by Sunday afternoon.
