The devastating real-life effects of Internet shutdowns on the lives and rights of millions of people are vastly under-appreciated and deserve much greater attention, says a new report on Internet shutdowns, published by The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-OHCHR). Internet shutdowns create significant obstacles that damage economies, democratic processes, […]

Several governments around the world turn to limiting or shutting down access to the Internet as an easy solution to quell potential local problems. In the past few years, we’ve noticed that Internet shutdowns occur around periods of local unrest, elections, or national school/university exams. We have also noticed that shutdowns rarely serve their purpose […]

One of the indicators we provide as part of our Insights platform is the economic cost of shutdowns. In our data, we rely on a tool developed with Netblocks.org, the Cost of Shutdown Tool (COST). The COST builds upon indicators from the World Bank, ITU, Eurostat and U.S. Census to estimate the economic impact of […]