Internet Blackouts Skyrocket Amid Global Political Unrest

Where there's a coup, there will probably be an internet outage. From a report: Internet disruptions in Myanmar early Monday morning coincided with reports that top politicians, including the country's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were being rounded up by the military. That's no surprise: internet blackouts are now common around the world when power hangs in the balance. At least 35 countries have restricted access to the internet or social media platforms at least once since 2019, according to Netblocks, a group which tracks internet freedom. Authorities have used the outages to reduce or prevent unrest -- or to hide it from public view. Blockages are particularly common around elections in Africa, most recently in Uganda. Netblocks also reported disruptions in Russian cities during recent protests over the detention of Alexey Navalny. Neighboring Belarus also disrupted the internet during recent protests, as have countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe.

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