The ​weaponisation of the Internet

For millions of people around the world, the internet was supposed to be the great equalizer, a highway with no speed limits, a boundless space for connection, information, and democratic participation. But in 2025, that promise, once again, turned into a nightmare as governments and armed groups transformed connectivity into a weapon of control, cutting off entire populations with a frequency never seen before.

According to the annual #KeepItOn report published by Access Now, not a single day passed last year without at least one internet shutdown somewhere in the world. With 313 documented shutdowns across 52 countries, the numbers tell a clear but troubling story. That figure surpasses the previous records of 304 shutdowns in 2024 and 289 in 2023, making 2025 the worst year for internet freedom since tracking began nearly a decade ago. Seven new countries joined the offender list, bringing the total number of nations that have intentionally severed their citizens from the global digital fabric to an even 100 since tracking began in 2016. Perhaps most alarming of all, 75 shutdowns in 33 countries continued from 2025 into 2026, suggesting that perpetrators are no longer satisfied with temporary blackouts but are instead experimenting with permanent digital darkness.

As Access Now, the New York-based advocacy group focused on the intersection of human rights and technology, makes clear in its report, this is not a story about technical glitches, undersea cable cuts, or routine maintenance failures​, these are deliberate, calculated acts of repression. ​According to Access Now, authorities​ have learned that by pulling the plug, they can hide war crimes, crush dissent, manipulate elections, and inflict collective punishment with terrifying efficiency. That said, by 2025, the internet was no longer just a tool for communication​, it had turned into a battlefield, with ordinary people as the casualties.

When asked whether denying connectivity could be interpreted as a form of collective punishment, Zach Rosson, the Global Data and Research Lead at Access Now, answered that internet shutdowns can indeed function as collective punishment. He pointed to their use in the midst of the genocide in Gaza, throughout the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan, and over many years across a wide variety of protests and elections worldwide where authorities have sought to punish populations for speaking out against injustice and corruption. Rosson emphasized that these shutdowns are not abstract violations of digital rights—they have direct, measurable consequences. “They undermine media freedom, disrupt the delivery of healthcare, and inflict isolation and psychological trauma on millions of people who find themselves suddenly and violently cut off from the world.”

The top three offenders

While 52 countries engaged in some form of internet shutdown in 2025, three nations stood out not only for the frequency of their disruptions but for the cynicism with which they deployed them. Each represents a different face of digital authoritarianism, yet together they share a common thread​ -- the willingness to sacrifice fundamental human rights for the sake of control.

For the second consecutive year, Myanmar has overtaken India as the world​'s leading perpetrator of internet shutdowns, with at least 95 documented incidents in 2025. Since the military junta seized power in 2021, internet blackouts have become a core tool of repression, imposed across all 14 states and administrative regions and primarily targeting villages and townships engulfed in active conflict. The military junta itself imposed the majority of these shutdowns—76 in total—while another eight perpetrators, including resistance forces, accounted for the remaining 19.

In March 2025, as the strongest earthquake in the country’s history struck Myanmar, ongoing internet shutdowns severely hampered emergency and lifesaving rescue efforts. At least 67 townships were affected, more than 2,000 people lost their lives, and countless others who might have been saved perished because information could not flow and help could not be coordinated. One particularly haunting case documented in the report describes Tamu township in the Sagging Division, where local junta forces cut internet services and phone lines in late January 2025 while conducting airstrikes and killing civilians in nearby towns. A humanitarian aid worker on the ground explained the terrifying pattern that residents had learned to recognize: “Everyone is on high alert, constantly watching the sky with fright and exhaustion. We also keep our eyes on our mobile phone connections—the moment the signal drops, we immediately take cover in underground shelters. We’ve come to understand that a loss of communication signals an impending airstrike.”

What makes Myanmar’s case especially disturbing is the proliferation of perpetrators. It is not merely the military regime imposing shutdowns, resistance forces have also adopted the tactic, reportedly doing so “out of necessity for security” in an attempt to stop information leaks regarding the junta’s airstrikes. This tragic cycle means that civilians are caught in a double bind, cut off by both sides of the conflict, with no reliable way to receive warnings, summon help, or even say goodbye to loved ones.

Second on the list of top offenders is India​, a country that positions itself as the world’s largest democracy. It recorded 65 internet shutdowns in 2025. While this figure represents the lowest annual total for the country since 2017, it remains alarmingly high for any state that claims to uphold democratic values. The shutdowns affected 12 states and territories and were deployed during protests, communal violence, religious holidays, and periods of conflict.

Unlike most countries where authorities can shut down connectivity without any public acknowledgment, Indian law technically requires that shutdown orders be published. Yet in 2025, as in previous years, the vast majority of disruptions occurred with little to no transparency. When authorities did offer explanations, they reached for the same tired justifications: national security, public safety, the prevention of unrest. But the report documents a different reality on the ground. In Indian-​occupied Jammu and Kashmir, for instance, officials invoked Section 163 of the Criminal Procedure Code on December 29, 2025, imposing a two-month ban on unauthorized VPN use. Police reportedly penalized around 800 users, including through phone searches for banned applications. For a population already living under one of the most militarized regimes in the world, this represented yet another layer of digital suffocation.

What makes India’s case particularly striking is the contrast between its democratic claims and its increasingly authoritarian practices. The country has one of the most vibrant civil societies in the Global South—when the internet is working—but the government has shown repeatedly that it is willing to sacrifice those freedoms at the first sign of trouble. Protests against agricultural laws, communal violence in Manipur, examinations in Rajasthan—all have triggered shutdowns that punish entire populations for the actions of a few. Last year, that pattern continued unabated, reminding the world that democracy is not merely about holding elections but about protecting the conditions that make democratic participation possible, including free access to information.

Rosson, one of the report’s primary authors, offered a sober assessment of how India’s legal framework has failed to curb the practice. He pointed out that despite the country having legal requirements for the use of shutdowns—including the publication of shutdown orders—authorities have nevertheless turned internet blackouts into what he described as a ‘knee-jerk and effectively unconstrained response’ to protests, conflict, communal violence, and religious holidays. According to Rosson, this pattern has been carried out primarily by local and state-level authorities across the country for more than a decade. He noted that officials often rely on loose justifications such as curbing violence or addressing security concerns, and as a result, shutdowns have become normalized and even expected by the population. In some cases, Rosson added, authorities impose them on a ‘precautionary’ basis before major events when nothing has yet happened. His conclusion was: “Even when measured against neighboring countries, having some degree of transparency or official explanation is no consolation for populations enduring persistent shutdowns that can last anywhere from months to years.”

Rounding off the top three is Pakistan, with at least 20 internet shutdowns in 2025, a figure only slightly lower than the 22 recorded in 2024. The country has now implemented shutdowns every single year since 2016, but the frequency and scale of disruptions have increased dramatically in the past two years. These blackouts have been imposed in response to protests, security incidents, and politically sensitive periods, including major religious holidays.

In July 2025, for example, authorities suspended mobile and internet services for several hours across multiple cities, citing security and public safety concerns during the Muharram-ul-Haram religious processions. But the disruptions are not limited to such periods or events. Pakistan’s approach to internet shutdowns shows a broader regional trend in South Asia, where governments have learned that connectivity is a vulnerability they can exploit. Unlike Myanmar, where shutdowns are often imposed during active military operations, Pakistan tends to use them as a preemptive measure—a way to defuse protests before they can gain momentum. Experts see it as a strategy of control through disconnection, and it appears to have been embedded in the governance toolkit over the years.

When asked whether states were weaponising access to the internet, Rosson explained that more governments around the world join what he called the ‘shame list’ every year. He noted that seven new countries were added in 2024 and another seven in 2025, bringing the total to one hundred countries where people have experienced shutdowns since 2016. According to Rosson, democracies, closed autocracies, and everything in between have all imposed forms of network shutdowns and platform blocks during protests, elections, conflicts, and exams, as well as part of broader information control or to force platform compliance. “Authorities are imposing internet shutdowns around the world in defiance of international human rights standards while eroding democratic institutions in the process,” he cautioned

The Access Now researcher further argued that an unrestricted, secure, inclusive, and accessible internet is a fundamental enabler of a wide spectrum of human rights, maintaining that connectivity should not be treated as a conditional service or allowed only for the select, powerful few. He pointed out that arbitrary state control over the internet through shutdowns has rightfully been challenged in courts at the national and regional levels around the world for years. Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition, Rosson added, have long argued that shutdowns fail the tests of legality, proportionality, and necessity, making them illegal under international human rights law.

A global epidemic

While Myanmar, India, and Pakistan dominate the headlines, the report makes clear that internet shutdowns are a global ​c​oncern. Conflict was the leading trigger for the third consecutive year, with 125 conflict-related shutdowns across 14 countries, representing 40 per cent of the global total. From Sudan, where warring parties have deliberately disrupted connectivity amid what is currently the world’s worst health and humanitarian crisis, to Palestine, where Israel’s ongoing military operations have destroyed at least 74 per cent of Gaza’s telecommunications infrastructure, the pattern is ​p​redictable​ and shows that when the bombs fall, the internet dies first.

Over all, protests and political instability triggered 64 shutdowns across 19 countries. In Tanzania, authorities imposed eight shutdowns last year, ranging from widespread blocking of social media platforms to a five-day nationwide blackout that coincided with an electricity cut, a curfew, and what the report describes as the worst crackdown on human rights in the country’s history during the October general elections. When the internet finally returned, the evidence of what had happened under the cover of darkness began to emerge: security forces had used unlawful lethal force against protesters, taken away dead bodies, and systematically silenced anyone who tried to document the violence.

Elections, which should be moments of democratic celebration and civic engagement, triggered 12 shutdowns across eight countries. In Belarus, authorities blocked or throttled multiple platforms before and during election day, ensuring that incumbent Aleksandr Lukashenko could extend his three-decade rule without the inconvenience of informed voters. In Venezuela, authorities continued the nationwide blocking of X, originally imposed in response to protests following the disputed 2024 elections, and further restricted access to Telegram, TikTok, and at least 21 VPN services during Nicolas Maduro’s inauguration in January 2025.

Even examinations became an excuse for digital repression as eleven shutdowns in six countries were imposed under the guise of preventing cheating, a practice that Access Now and its partners have been fighting for years through the #NoExamShutdown campaign. In Iraq, authorities imposed six shutdown instances corresponding to exam periods, resulting in a total of 36 nationwide disruptions between May and September. In Syria, the new government continued the damaging tradition of the fallen Assad regime by cutting internet access nationwide during exams. In Kenya, authorities blocked Telegram for the third consecutive year during national secondary school exams.

Cross-border and satellite shutdowns

Perhaps the most disturbing trend documented in the report is the rise of cross-border shutdowns. Eighteen such incidents were recorded, implemented by seven perpetrators and impacting people in seven countries and occupied territories. Through airstrikes on fiber optic cables, bombing of power infrastructure, cyberattacks, and tampering with submarine cable landing stations, perpetrators have learned that they do not need to control a country to silence its people​, they simply need to break the infrastructure that connects them to the world.

Israel continued its genocide in Gaza throughout 2025, imposing internet shutdowns during ground operations while armed actors killed scores of civilians at food distribution sites. Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine entered its fourth year, with the Russian military continuing to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, leading to significant internet disruptions across numerous regions. China cut off mobile internet and phone lines in villages in the border areas of Kachin State, Myanmar, in the midst of fighting between junta and Kachin Independence Army troops. Thailand twice ordered internet service, phone lines, and electricity to be cut off for people living near the border on the Myanmar side, ostensibly to curb cybercrime but in practice punishing entire communities already suffering from ongoing conflict.

At the same time, perpetrators have increasingly targeted Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet systems, which had been hailed as a solution for connectivity in repressive environments. There were 14 such shutdowns across seven countries in 2025, a sharp increase from just four in 2024. In Chad, authorities shut down Starlink internet access for the Abu Tanqi and Maji refugee camps for three days by abruptly requiring permit fees that were not previously compulsory, leaving refugees with no way to communicate with the outside world or receive humanitarian aid. In Syria, authorities confiscated Starlink devices and threatened social media users. In Yemen, the government launched field campaigns to seize banned equipment. ​If anything, the message from authoritarian regimes ​remained clear​ -- no matter how you try to connect, we will find a way to cut you off.

Stories from the darkness

Behind every statistic in the report is a human being whose life was upended by the flick of a switch. An Iranian IT manager living in exile in Sweden described the agony of being completely cut off from his family during the June 2025 shutdown that followed the Iran-Israel war. “I didn’t know if they were alive, injured, or safe,” he told ​the researchers​ at Access Now. “This caused me tremendous anxiety, fear, and emotional stress for several days.”

An activist in Myanmar explained how shutdowns affect even the most basic aspects of survival: “When there’s an emergency—like an airstrike—being able to communicate can literally decide who survives. Even when someone gets sick, if we don't have internet, we have to send someone from the village on a motorbike to ask for help. The roads are rough, and ​it’s​ dangerous in conflict areas. By the time help reaches us, it might already be too late. Every minute lost lowers someone’s chance of survival.”

A parent in Russia, where authorities imposed an unprecedented number of shutdowns in 2025 under the guise of countering drone attacks from Ukraine, described the disruption to her children’s education: “My children need the internet to study on a regular basis. The daughter is in 10th grade, the son is in the academy, where some classes are held remotely. It’s terrible without the internet. Children have to search for internet connection around their relatives' apartments. The neighbors are doing the same, and are forced to go out somewhere too.”

A journalist in Tanzania, whose country imposed a five-day nationwide blackout during the October elections, explained how the shutdown devastated both her professional and personal life: “As someone who works in the field of journalism and communication, my daily routine heavily depends on internet access for research, information gathering, publishing, and maintaining contact with colleagues and sources. When the shutdown occurred, it completely disrupted my ability to perform my duties effectively.”

And an activist in Venezuela, where authorities have blocked X, Telegram, Signal, and countless VPN services, described the psychological toll of living under constant threat of disconnection: “As someone always ‘connected’ due to my work in civil society organizations, nothing prepared me for how anxiety-inducing it would be to expect all communications to be shut down at any time without any warning. I was prepared with data backups, VPNs, external batteries, and even walkie-talkies to talk to my friends living nearby, but the reality is that no one can be fully prepared for these types of scenarios.”

A call to action

As the #KeepItOn coalition marks its tenth anniversary next year, the message from the 2025 report is both sobering and urgent. Internet shutdowns are not a niche concern for tech activists or digital rights lawyers. They are a fundamental threat to human dignity, democratic participation, and the right to life itself. When governments learn that they can kill with impunity under the cover of a blackout, when they discover that protests evaporate when organizers cannot communicate, when they realize that elections can be rigged without anyone livestreaming the fraud, the temptation to pull the plug becomes almost impossible to resist.

The report’s recommendations urge states to refrain from shutting down the internet and instead strengthen their commitments to universal, free, and open access. Warring parties​ must fully comply with the laws of armed conflict, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution. Humanitarian organizations must prioritize emergency connectivity for civilian populations, while donors must provide sustained and flexible support for organizations working to document and prevent shutdowns. Satellite providers, meanwhile, must prioritize crisis-ready infrastructure over profitable markets.

But ultimately, Access Now says, the responsibility lies with all of us—the consumers, users, and citizens—because every time a government cuts the internet, it is betting that the world will not notice, or will not care.

Given the year-on-year increase in internet shutdowns, Rosson of Access Now offered a grim warning in conclusion. He observed that the steady rise in the use of internet shutdowns around the world since 2020 reflects a world descending into more widespread conflict, growing authoritarianism, and weakening democracy—trends that he said spell disaster for human rights. According to Rosson, as more people in all corners of the globe rely on the internet, governments and militaries alike have learned its power – it enables everyday people to assemble in protest, share information, speak truth to power, and access critical information. “They seek to cut off this power so they can assert control, hide abuses, and quash dissent,” he ​cautioned.