Emboldened Offenders, Endangered Communities: Internet Shutdowns In 2024

It’s official, 2024 was the worst year on record for internet shutdowns. Launching today, February 24, 2025, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition’s new report, Emboldened offenders, endangered communities: internet shutdowns in 2024, exposes how authorities imposed at least 296 internet shutdowns in 54 countries, causing chaos across borders, exacerbating trauma during conflict, and fracturing the lives of millions of people around the globe.

The findings also reveal seven countries joined the first-time offenders list, and for the first time since 2018, India has been knocked off the top spot by Myanmar for most internet shutdowns.

“For the second year in a row, authorities and warring parties wielded an unprecedented number of internet shutdowns as a weapon of war and a tool for collective punishment — hurling communities into digital darkness, and concealing grave human rights abuses,” said Felicia Anthonio, #KeepItOn Campaign Manager at Access Now. “As internet access becomes consistently weaponized, restricted, and precarious, we are seeing pervasive patterns of crushing censorship and an urgent need for greater accountability. No single stakeholder can end internet shutdowns alone. The time to act is now.”

Key findings include:

• The worst year on record: authorities implemented at least 296 internet shutdowns in 54 countries — a 35% increase compared to the previous high in 2022 (40 countries);
• Seven countries were new offenders: Comoros, El Salvador, France, Guinea-Bissau, Malaysia, Mauritius, and Thailand imposed internet shutdowns for the first time;
• A new leader: for the first time, in 2024 people in Myanmar experienced more shutdowns than anywhere else in the world, with at least six perpetrators — led predominantly by the military regime — imposing 85 shutdowns; India followed closely with 84 shutdowns;
• Conflict remained the lead trigger of shutdowns for a second year running with at least 103 conflicted-related shutdowns documented in 11 countries: Ethiopia, Bahrain, Chad, India, Israel, Myanmar, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, Sudan, and Ukraine. Other leading triggers for shutdowns were protests (74 shutdowns), exams (16 shutdowns), and elections (12 shutdowns);
• The majority of internet shutdowns were experienced by people in four countries: millions of people in India, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Russia, lived through at least 203 shutdowns — 69% of the global total;
• Shutdowns have no borders: there was an alarming increase in cross-border shutdowns, with 25 implemented by eight offenders, impacting people in 13 countries;
• A surge in platform blocks: a record-breaking total of 71 were recorded in 35 countries, with X being the most blocked platform in 2024; and
• The good news: the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted a landmark resolution urging member states to not shut down the internet during elections; authorities in Mauritius rescinded an order to ban social media during their election; and world leaders committed to “[r]efrain from internet shutdowns and measures that target internet access” at the 2024 UN Summit of the Future.

“The data doesn’t lie; 2024 was a record-breaking year for internet shutdowns,” said Zach Rosson, #KeepItOn Data and Research Lead at Access Now. “As perpetrators become more sophisticated in their tactics to silence dissent, so must our response as civil society and human rights defenders. Now more than ever, we need a collective and concerted effort to fight the unyielding use of internet shutdowns around the world — fundamental rights depend on it.”

In 2024, shutdowns were implemented in: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Burundi, Chad, China, Comoros, Cuba, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Access the full report, global snapshot, and shutdowns dashboard.

Read this press release via the Access Now website.

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