Countries Shutting Down the Internet 2024

The U.S. government hasn't ever authorized a nationwide internet shutdown. But there are other governments throughout the world that have shut down the internet in their countries for one reason or another.

More often than not, countries have chosen to shut down internet access to their residents during large protests, elections, and incidents involving social unrest. Let's take a look at several of the countries shutting down the internet in 2023 below.

India

Of all the countries shutting down the internet in 2023, India tends to do it the most. They cut off people from internet access 84 times in 2022 alone, and the country continues to shut down the internet in 2023, too.

Many of the self-imposed internet outages in India have been performed to stop the spread of so-called fake news. No countries shutting down the internet in 2023 come anywhere close to India in terms of how often they do it.

Ukraine

Under normal circumstances, Ukraine wouldn't appear on a list of the countries shutting down the internet in 2023. However, the country's ongoing war with Russia has led to numerous internet outages over the last year.

In 2022, there were 22 times when the internet was cut off in Ukraine. The country has worked hard to get it back up and running every time, but it may not be able to completely remedy this situation until the war with Russia ends.

Iran

Iran infamously shut down the internet in 2019 during widespread protests throughout the country. The Supreme National Security Council in Iran ordered the internet to stay off for a week and only gave residents access to the National Information Network during that time.

Iran has also kept on shutting off the internet in more recent years. The country was without the internet 18 times in 2022.

Other Countries Shutting Down the Internet in 2023

India, Ukraine, and Iran are the three countries shutting down the internet in 2023 the most. They're the only countries to reach double digits when it comes to internet shutdowns.

There are also other countries that experience regular internet shutdowns, though. Myanmar (7), Bangladesh (6), Jordan (4), Libya (4), Sudan (4), and Turkmenistan (4) were hit with multiple internet shutdowns in 2022. Ethiopia has also endured its fair share of shutdowns recently with some lasting for months and even years at a time.

Data tables are focused upon 2023 shutdowns and do not necessarily include ongoing long-term site-specific censoring or filtering, such as is known to exist in China and other countries, particularly in Asia.
Shutdowns in Ukraine and Yemen were imposed by opposing forces during armed conflict.
Data for 2023 includes local, regional, and national shutdowns from Jan. 01 to Nov. 22.
A significant portion of internet outages in Iraq are focused upon the region of Kurdistan.

39 countries

Country	Shutdown Events 2023	Shutdown Events 2022
Iraq	54	1
Iran	47	18
India	34	84
Senegal	11
Syria	10	1
Algeria	5	1
Ethiopia	3	1
Myanmar	3	7
Mauritania	3
Pakistan	2	1
Russia	1	2
Turkey	1	1
Sudan	1	4
Zimbabwe	1	1
Guinea	1
Azerbaijan	1	1
Gabon	1
Suriname	1
China		1
Nigeria		1
Brazil		1
Bangladesh		6
Uganda		1
Afghanistan		2
Yemen		1
Ukraine		22
Uzbekistan		2
Burkina Faso		2
Sri Lanka		1
Kazakhstan		2
Tunisia		1
Jordan		4
Cuba		2
Tajikistan		2
Sierra Leone		2
Turkmenistan		4
Libya		4
Oman		1
Armenia		1

178 Rows

Scope of Disruption	Type of Blackout	Start Date	Duration (Hours)	Users Affected (1K)	Context	Estimated Cost (USD)	Human Rights Infringement	Impede Right to Peaceful Protest	Election Interference	Impede Press Freedoms
National	Full	11-Jun-23	10	32,090	Exams	20,378,814	No	No	No	No
National	Full	12-Jun-23	10	32,090	Exams	20,378,814	No	No	No	No
National	Full	13-Jun-23	10	32,090	Exams	20,378,814	No	No	No	No
National	Full	14-Jun-23	10	32,090	Exams	20,378,814	No	No	No	No
National	Full	15-Jun-23	10	32,090	Exams	20,378,814	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	19-Sep-23	495	83	Conflict	4,703,378	Yes	No	No	Yes
Local	Full	2-Aug-23	1638	3,343	Protests	94,223,894	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Social Media	10-Feb-23	3816	29,830	Protests	330,588,348	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Social Media	9-Feb-23	3840	29,830	Protests	332,667,520	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	26-Aug-23	87	1,451	Information Control	5,350,610	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
National	Social Media	18-May-23	72	4,870	Protests	2,258,844	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	5-May-23	2	585	Information control	64,407	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	28-Jun-23	21	151	Information control	315,502	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	1-Aug-23	24	138	Conflict	1,574,681	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	1-Sep-23	24	545	Protests	614,295	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	29-May-23	24	545	Information control	614,295	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	6-Jun-23	24	577	Protests	1,136,889	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	27-Aug-23	24	595	Conflict	825,860	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	11-Sep-23	24	2,688	Conflict	5,294,450	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	23-Mar-23	24	4,377	Information control	4,283,184	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	29-Jul-23	27	2,458	Conflict	1,908,092	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	29-Jul-23	36	1,488	Conflict	1,540,216	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	15-Sep-23	38	595	Information Control	1,307,611	Yes	No	No	Yes
Local	Full	22-Apr-23	48	368	Information control	891,827	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	28-Feb-23	48	874	Information control	2,592,397	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	26-Feb-23	48	1,175	Information control	5,614,204	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	22-Aug-23	48	1,582	Conflict	2,183,321	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	21-Mar-23	48	2,226	Information control	10,125,746	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	25-Feb-23	48	6,804	Exams	20,174,543	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	17-Sep-23	54	595	Information Control	1,858,184	Yes	No	No	Yes
Local	Full	9-May-23	71	114	Protests	822,147	Yes	No	No	No
Local	Full	15-Apr-23	72	663	Information control	2,243,758	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	18-Mar-23	72	27,000	Information control	110,012,799	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	27-Jul-23	75	1,583	Conflict	3,413,471	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	15-Feb-23	96	1,037	Information control	5,159,832	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	27-Apr-23	120	242	Conflict	242,296	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	31-Jul-23	144	630	Conflict	6,939,408	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	31-Jul-23	144	773	Conflict	8,797,443	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Social Media	2-Apr-23	144	2,958	Information control	1,101,307	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	31-Mar-23	192	2,958	Information control	16,328,055	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	31-Jul-23	216	72	Conflict	7,159,430	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	13-Apr-23	216	54	Information control	7,828,370	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	31-Jul-23	336	6	Conflict	11,562,026	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	26-Sep-23	336	2,090	Conflict	21,002,243	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Local	Full	3-May-23	3456	2,090	Conflict	216,023,069	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Local	Full	17-May-23	1	1,515	Unknown	32,789	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	7-Jun-23	1	7,898	Unknown	93,489	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	7-Mar-23	1	8,993	Unconfirmed	194,568	No	No	No	No
National	Full	9-Sep-23	1	17,276	Protests	641,923	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	18-May-23	2	2,848	Unknown	92,414	No	No	No	No
National	Full	10-Sep-23	2	17,276	Protests	898,693	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	19-May-23	3	5,365	Unknown	328,858	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	19-Jan-23	4	16,916	Exams	509,025	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	19-Jan-23	4	16,916	Exams	528,130	No	No	No	No
Local	Full	25-Aug-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	15-Sep-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	22-Sep-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	6-Jan-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	13-Jan-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	20-Jan-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	27-Jan-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	3-Feb-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	10-Feb-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	17-Feb-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	24-Feb-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	3-Mar-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	10-Mar-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	17-Mar-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	24-Mar-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	31-Mar-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	7-Apr-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	14-Apr-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	21-Apr-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	28-Apr-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	5-May-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	12-May-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	19-May-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	26-May-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	2-Jun-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	9-Jun-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	23-Jun-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	30-Jun-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	7-Jul-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	14-Jul-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	21-Jul-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	1-Sep-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	8-Sep-23	12	531	Protests	137,969	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	29-Sep-23	12	5,896	Protests	1,530,781	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	6-Oct-23	12	5,896	Protests	1,530,781	Yes	Yes	No	No
Local	Full	19-May-23	16	2,431	Unknown	824,047	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	1-Jan-23	6312	33,720	Protests	453,899,865	Yes	Yes	No	No
Regional	Full	3-Jun-23	1	4,780	Exams	291,186	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	6-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	10-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	13-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	6-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	7-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	8-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	9-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	10-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	12-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	13-Jun-23	2	4,780	Exams	582,371	No	No	No	No
National	Full	29-Aug-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	30-Aug-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	17-Sep-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	18-Sep-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	19-Sep-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	21-Sep-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	23-Sep-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	25-Sep-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	28-Sep-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	30-Sep-23	3	33,720	Exams	5,288,907	No	No	No	No
National	Full	21-Aug-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	22-Aug-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	23-Aug-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	24-Aug-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	26-Aug-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	27-Aug-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	28-Aug-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	1-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	6,080,298	No	No	No	No
National	Full	4-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	6-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	8-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	11-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	13-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	15-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	17-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	21-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	22-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	24-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	25-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
National	Full	26-Jun-23	4	33,720	Exams	7,051,876	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	4-Jul-23	4	33,720	Exams	1,164,743	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	5-Jul-23	4	33,720	Exams	1,164,743	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	8-Jul-23	4	33,720	Exams	1,164,743	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	9-Jul-23	4	33,720	Exams	1,164,743	No	No	No	No
Regional	Full	10-Jul-23	4	33,720	Exams	1,164,743	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	6-Feb-23	8	20,580	Exams	4,460,845	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	7-Feb-23	8	20,580	Exams	4,460,845	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	8-Feb-23	8	20,580	Exams	4,460,845	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	9-Feb-23	8	20,580	Exams	4,460,845	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	10-Feb-23	8	20,580	Exams	4,460,845	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	11-Feb-23	8	20,580	Exams	4,460,845	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	12-Feb-23	8	20,580	Exams	4,460,845	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	13-Feb-23	8	20,580	Exams	4,460,845	No	No	No	No
National	Full	6-Mar-23	146	1,730	Information control	9,639,167	No	No	No	No
National	Full	30-May-23	168	571	Protests	14,423,465	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	30-May-23	168	571	Protests	14,423,465	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Social Media	1-Jan-23	6768	2,375	Information control	158,178,882	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Local	Full	1-Jan-23	6768	23,650	Conflict	591,046,034	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
National	Full	9-May-23	96	82,900	Conflict	150,350,968	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Social Media	9-May-23	156	82,900	Conflict	82,298,379	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Social Media	1-Jan-23	1353	113,000	Conflict	4,015,719,785	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
National	Full	3-Jun-23	3	8,010	Protests	639,402	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	6-Jun-23	12	8,010	Protests	2,557,607	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	4-Jun-23	12	8,010	Protests	2,557,607	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	5-Jun-23	12	8,010	Protests	2,557,607	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	31-Jul-23	16	8,010	Information control	3,410,142	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	1-Aug-23	16	8,010	Information control	3,410,142	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	2-Aug-23	16	8,010	Information control	3,410,142	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	3-Aug-23	16	8,010	Information control	3,410,142	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	4-Aug-23	16	8,010	Information control	3,410,142	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	5-Aug-23	16	8,010	Information control	3,410,142	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Social Media	1-Jun-23	163	8,010	Protests	13,539,561	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	16-Apr-23	10	4,798	Conflict	887,975	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Social Media	17-Feb-23	12	439	Protests	91,422	Yes	Yes	No	No
National	Full	10-Aug-23	3	8,110	Exams	900,276	No	No	No	No
National	Full	13-Aug-23	3	8,110	Exams	900,276	No	No	No	No
National	Full	14-Aug-23	3	8,110	Exams	900,276	No	No	No	No
National	Full	15-Aug-23	3	8,110	Exams	900,276	No	No	No	No
National	Full	16-Aug-23	3	8,110	Exams	900,276	No	No	No	No
National	Full	17-Aug-23	3	8,110	Exams	900,276	No	No	No	No
National	Full	25-Jun-23	3	8,110	Exams	969,528	No	No	No	No
National	Full	26-Jun-23	3	8,110	Exams	969,528	No	No	No	No
National	Full	24-May-23	4	8,110	Exams	1,108,032	No	No	No	No
National	Full	25-May-23	4	8,110	Exams	1,108,032	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	8-Feb-23	12	69,950	Information control	5,762,783	No	No	No	No
National	Social Media	22-Aug-23	24	4,430	Information Control	579,718	Yes	Yes	Yes	No