Governments Are Suddenly Shutting Down The Internet - Here’s Why

The internet is something that we all take for granted. But there's a worrying trend that's coming into view. Governments around the world are shutting down the internet as a form of control. This recently happened in Bangladesh but the mechanisms for such actions exist in Western nations. In this episode we explore the topic of when governments shut down the internet.

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Producer: Dagogo Altraide
Writers: Dagogo Altraide, Tawsif Akkas
Editors: Brayden Laffrey, Dagogo Altraide
Animator: Mathijs Luijten

[leomugo]

I live in Kenya and around late June, we had large nationwide protests against a budget draft (Finance Bill) that proposed an increase in taxes that would’ve been eventually gobbled up by our corrupt politicians. So on June 25th, our parliament passed the Finance Bill after being told by citizens to reject it.

Protestors got mad and invaded the Parliament building and soon after, the government teamed up with our largest network/internet provider to strangle the internet for a few hours. Right after the internet blackout, the Police went on a killing spree.

After a few hours when tensions cooled down, the internet came back and our largest network provider (Safaricom) wrote a statement saying an “underwater sea cable” got damaged causing the internet blackout when in fact there was no evidence of the sea cable failure.

[allnamesaretakenful]

No Government should have the ability to shut down the Internet

[aisanreis]

I was an exchange student in Turkey in 2016, and I can confirm that after every terrorist attack, access to major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter was blocked. I was there for about six months, and this pattern occurred repeatedly.

[rebelrog]

What governments call "censoring misinformation" most people call "silencing the truth".

[Ali-wmjy]

I live in Syria and trust me brother it's WAY worse than you mentioned.
every high school exam for the last 5 years comes with a 3-4 hours complete telecommunication shut down. yes not only the internet but also mobile calls/sms as well, leaving only landlines working.
as you can imagine there are countless disasters coming out of this unfathomably stupid decision, last month an old woman in my neighbourhood had a stroke at the time of the shut down, she lived alone with only a mobile phone and she was found barely alive by her family trying to call for help and survived with brain damage.
car accidents in shut down times are 100 times more dangerous, you can't call a hospital or a friend and you just have to pray you see someone with a working vehicle who can take you to a hospital.
this is to say nothing about all the people who work online in a country with complete economic collapse who will suffer because of this.
and the worst part is that high school exams will still have cheating anyway as exam observers will actively help students or turn a blind eye on students cheating for financial or even sectarian reasons so it's all basically for nothing.
i think people in positions of power know this. they don't care about cheating and to them this is just how an authoritarian government reminds the people who's really in charge.

[masfiqreza]

I live in Bangladesh, and its way more dangerous than you describe. Thousands of business, people's career, company's offshore client destroyed just like that. Part of reason why people come in street and take down the government.

[rumplstiltztinkerstein]

Its wild how governments can just say "Its for your own good" and that gives them permission to do anything.

[shahirabdullah]

Never imagined my favorite channel would create a video about my country. I still remember that day. 5th August. I walked 30 kilometers with my younger brother for justice. The whole week was crazy. I lost one of my university students. We didn't have internet for 6 days. I didn't even know if i would have my job. It was absolute crazy. In the end we won. And it was one of the greatest feelings in my life. We lost a lot of brave students. We will remember them as long as we breathe.

[amirmohamad]

My dude my government, here in Iran, has not only limited access to the internet to a ridiculous degree (apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, telegram, WhatsApp, YouTube are inaccessible without VPN), but also have cut access to the internet completely multiple times in recent years. You don't need an episode of black mirror to imagine this. It's already happening.

[ashrahman_]

If any government considers shutting down the internet a casual thing, remember in Bangladesh, a 15-year-old and quite powerful government was thrown out of power, shutting down the internet was one of the major causes.

[Luzgar]

Nothing should entirely rely on a single thing.

That's the kind of lesson you learn the hard way but never forget.

[nawaz_haider]

As a student from Bangladesh, my team and I were sending documents and evidence to humanitarian organizations, human rights activists, and embassies during the protests to inform the world about what was happening. The internet shutdown really affected our efforts. Thank you for bringing up this important topic.

[xavi_]

1) The internet shutdown was not limited to Dhaka. it was enforced nationwide.

2) The death toll is significant. While the official figure provided by the Hasina government is approximately 230, estimates suggest that over 1300 individuals may have been killed. This figure includes both students and civilians who supported the student movement. These estimates are based on reports from hospitals and clinics.

To put it into perspective, there were days when the death toll among students alone exceeded 100. Between August 4th - 6th, more than 300 individuals lost their lives, according to Prothom Alo, one of the most reputable news portals in Bangladesh.

3) The internet shutdown was implemented to suppress the protesters, not to prevent the spread of misinformation. In fact, it was the fascist Hasina government and its state-controlled media were spreading misinformation. Many of us were sharing videos of the government's egregious actions with international media outlets through social media and other means. Many journalists and reporters were also trying to bring global attention to these atrocities. The Hasina government believed that an internet shutdown would stop us, but they were mistaken.

[liberty-matrix]

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” ~ Frank Zappa

[shafaries]

As a Bangladeshi living Australia, I can't explain what I felt when the internet shutdown just like that and stayed like that for 5 days.

First day of shutdown :
" literally everyone I knew, just gone. Out of reach"

It's like most of my life just disappeared.

Thank you for using this incident to make this video.

[Fleezblarp]

Shutting off the internet will surely keep people from being upset at the government. I can only speak for myself, but I am more likely to go outside and be angry if I can't leave angry comments on the internet. Pick your poison, Trudeau.

[kennethroth]

The problem is who determines what disinformation is. To governments disinformation is just information that goes against their narrative or propaganda. To other disinformation is just information about the government oppressing them. Freedom of information and speech is the only way.

[shakibulhoq]

I am from Bangladesh and I am telling you a modern life can't go on without the internet. it definitely is a human right.

[Taegreth]

The last thing you want is for the mainstream media / government to be the arbiter in deciding what's misinformation.

[Techpriest]

The problem with legislation is it goes out the window the second the people who want to shut down the Internet decide to shut down the Internet as they're the ones who control legislation.