In 2024, the information superhighway went darkish on 296 events throughout 54 international locations, with seven governments becoming a member of the information superhighway shutdown perpetrators’ record for the primary time, making final yr the worst on file for information superhighway freedoms – once more.
That is the stunning toll from the newest every year file revealed through Get admission to Now and the #KeepItOn coalition. A marketing campaign began in 2016 to battle information superhighway shutdowns international, the coalition now comprises 345 organizations throughout 106 international locations.
Past the numbers, on the other hand, “there are the folks,” mentioned Carolyn Tackett, Get admission to Now Director of Campaigns and Fast Reaction, commenting at the findings throughout the RightsCon 25 convention in Taipei. “Tens of millions have had their lives angry through being bring to a halt from the sector and from get entry to to the platforms they depend on,” she added.
Extra international locations, past borders
As discussed, seven international locations have joined the record of offenders. Comoros, El Salvador, France, Guinea-Bissau, Malaysia, Mauritius, and Thailand all imposed some varieties of information superhighway shutdown for the primary time in 2024.
Amongst those, France, which issued a TikTok blocking off order in its New Caledonia territory throughout anti-government protests in Might, was once particularly important. It marks, actually, the first actual time a Western democracy – and member of the Freedom On-line Coalition – became to the internet-blocking playbook most commonly reserved for authoritarian governments.
As Felicia Anthonio, #KeepItOn Supervisor at Get admission to Now, put it: “[Internet] shutdowns are on the breaking point of being normalized through offenders.”
No longer handiest did extra governments pull the plug on the web, 2024 additionally noticed the upward thrust of cross-border shutdowns. Professionals recorded no less than 25 such incidents applied through 8 offenders – together with Russia, Israel, and Thailand. Those impacted other folks in 13 international locations.
Myanmar, which has been an information superhighway shutdown culprit because the coalition started monitoring down those incidents in 2018, was once the most important offender in 2024 with 85 shutdowns imposed throughout the yr, changing India (84 incidents) within the most sensible spot for the primary time.
The #KeepItOn 2024 file is right here!In 2024, the #KeepItOn coalition documented have an effect on tales in conjunction with 296 shutdowns all over the world + higher social media blocks. We documented 72 shutdowns coinciding with grave human rights abuses in 17 international locations. It’s the worst yr but! %.twitter.com/l2aON7kegIFebruary 24, 2025
All in all, 2024 was once the worst yr on file for information superhighway shutdowns, censorship, and social media blocks. It even beat the being worried 2023 toll of 283, which was once, on the time, the easiest choice of incidents ever recorded.
The quantity could also be upper, however the motivations in the back of government-imposed shutdowns are at all times the similar. Conflicts (103 incidents) and protests (74) are, but for every other yr, the primary triggers for those movements. Checks (16) and elections (12) adopted go well with.
“Platforms blocks are information superhighway shutdown”
Within the stricter description, government-imposed information superhighway shutdowns seek advice from fighting information superhighway get entry to – whether or not regional or nationwide, concentrated on cell knowledge or wider connectivity.
Increasingly governments, on the other hand, had been resorting to a “softer” type of shutdown: social media blocking off. But, “Platforms blocks are [also] information superhighway shutdowns,” mentioned Tackett from Get admission to Now, explaining that many of us international have been denied get entry to to important platforms to precise themselves freely and get entry to knowledge.
In 2024, professionals recorded 71 of those blocks throughout 35 international locations, with X being the primary goal of censors. This represents an build up from 53 blocks in 25 international locations in 2023, exceeding the former easiest toll on file of 57 blocks in 28 international locations in 2019.
It’s not so sudden then that folks international an increasing number of became to the most productive VPN products and services to stick attached and bypass censorship and social media blocks. Proton VPN recorded VPN utilization spikes throughout 119 international locations all over the yr.
Do you know?
With about part of the worldwide inhabitants referred to as to vote on their subsequent authorities in 2024, Proton VPN introduced the Election Initiative in March to supply a loose community of native anti-censorship servers to all customers logging in from at-risk international locations.
A digital non-public community (VPN) encrypts all customers’ information superhighway connections to spice up their on-line privateness whilst protecting their ID cope with. The latter ability is what is had to bypass this sort of information superhighway geo-restriction.
Whilst other folks dwelling underneath a limited information superhighway atmosphere discovered use VPN-like gear to navigate blocks, governments implementing them also are running onerous to stop this. 2024 marks a nasty yr for VPN censorship as neatly, actually.
Examples come with Russia passing a brand new regulation in March that criminalizes the unfold of details about tactics to bypass information superhighway restrictions, whilst forcing Apple to kill about 60 VPN apps from the rustic’s App Retailer. Venezuela blocked get entry to to VPN web sites, too. Whilst, Myanmar started preventing electorate in the street to test if they’d the undesirable app on their telephone, threatening other folks with fines or even jail sentences.
Because of this in 2024, Proton VPN made up our minds to double down on its battle towards on-line censorship through integrating new gear and increasing current censorship-resistant era. Amongst those, Discreet Icon – an way to customise the VPN app’s icon and title to make it appear to be some other app – got here as an immediate reaction to the occasions in Myanmar.
“We prioritize the improvement of the function and have been in a position to release it inside of two weeks after studying about this wish to assist stay our group in Myanmar protected,” mentioned Christine Bannan, Senior Public Coverage Supervisor at Proton.
What is subsequent for 2025?
Get admission to Now could be file unquestionably depicts a grim state of affairs for information superhighway freedoms international. But, there was once additionally some excellent information from this entrance all over the yr.
For starters, the African Fee on Human and Peoples’ Rights followed a landmark answer urging member states not to close down the information superhighway throughout elections. Government in Mauritius, some of the first-timer offenders, rescinded the order to prohibit social media throughout their election after simply 24 hours amid force from social societies. International leaders additionally dedicated to “[r]efrain from information superhighway shutdowns and measures that focus on information superhighway get entry to” on the 2024 UN Summit of the Long run.
However, it continues to be noticed whether or not France’s TikTok blocking off order in New Caledonia – and the continued force to prohibit TikTok in america – will pave the best way for additional social media blocking off and information superhighway shutdown orders amongst democracies internationally.
Requested about this, Anthonio from Get admission to Now mentioned: “It is going to make our paintings very tricky. Because of this we’re calling at the FreedomOnline Coalition to ensure that their contributors [France], which are meant to be selling information superhighway freedom, don’t normalize using shutdowns. What [the US TikTok ban] would additionally imply for us going ahead is a query we’re but to search out solutions to, however additionally it is on our radar.”
