INTERNET SHUTDOWNS IN 2023 Shutdowns during exams In 2023, we recorded 12 exam-related shutdowns in Algeria, India, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, and Syria. This follows a relatively consistent trend of recent years: there were eight such shutdowns in 2022, 11 in 2021, and eight in 2020. While most countries that imposed examrelated shutdowns in 2023 are long-standing annual offenders, the government of Kenya did so for the first time by restricting access to Telegram.49 Iran also blocked internet access during national exams — the first recorded exam-related shutdown in Iran in STOP, but with reports indicating similar localized disruptions have taken place since at least 2021.50 The implementation of shutdowns has proven futile over and over again in curbing exam cheating, and the harms to impacted communities and businesses are clearly documented.51 Yet authorities persist. We welcome and encourage efforts to move away from this practice, as we saw from the Ministry of Communications in Iraq when they challenged the Ministry of Education’s request to implement blocks.52 Shutdowns during natural disasters In an alarming new development, we saw at least four internet shutdowns in four countries (Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, Türkiye) coincide with natural disasters in 2023. Rising global surface temperatures and shifts in weather patterns due to the climate crisis are 15 fueling natural disasters including typhoons, floods, wildfires, and cyclones across the world. In 2023, the world was hit hard by a whopping 240 calamities — a tragic record-breaking number of natural disasters — which caused irreparable damage, including deaths and displacement of tens of thousands of people.53 The impact of the climate crisis coupled with growing political and economic instability is becoming global in scope and unprecedented in scale.54 In both Myanmar and Iraq, emergencies hit regions already experiencing internet disruptions for other reasons. The ongoing digital crackdown by the military junta in Myanmar exacerbated the effects of Cyclone Mocha, which hit western Myanmar in May 2023.55 People already deliberately disconnected, with a near-total lack of connectivity, could not access proper warning of storms, evacuation routes, or post-disaster relief assistance — which was even further restricted by the junta’s refusal to allow humanitarian aid workers to enter the country.56 In Iraq, a massive earthquake in February 2023 impacting several countries in the region struck during what were otherwise “routine” social media blocks for national exams, which cut people off from essential communications channels for at least eight hours every day.57 The areas impacted by the earthquake, including Syria, western and northern Iraq, and Türkiye, are home to large populations of refugees and internally displaced persons, making the lack of access to communications channels both locally and across borders even more dire.58 In Türkiye and Libya, authorities imposed internet shutdowns in the direct aftermath of natural disasters 49 OONI Explorer (2023). Kenya blocked Telegram during the KCSE 2023 exams. https://explorer.ooni.org/ findings/228466228201/ 50 Filterwatch (2024). Old Policies, New Laws: Legal Developments Around Iran's Internet Take Centre Stage. https://filter. watch/en/2023/06/23/old-policies-new-laws-legal-developments-around-irans-internet-take-centre-stage/; Digiato (2021). Jahormi: One of the reasons for the internet disruption in the past days was to prevent the sale of exam questions. https://digiato.com/article/2021/07/03/%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%DB%8C% D9%86%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B7%D8%B1-%DA%A9%D9%86%DA%A9%D9%88%D8%B1/ 51 See Access Now (2023). Tell MENA authorities: #NoExamShutdown. https://www.accessnow.org/campaign/no-examshutdown/ 52 Supra note 17. 53 Eos Data Analytics (2024). Natural Disasters 2023: A Year of Tragic Record-Breaking. https://eos.com/blog/naturaldisasters-2023/ 54 United Nations (n.d.). Global Issues: Climate Change. https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/climate-change/ 55 Reuters (2023). At least three killed as powerful storm batters Myanmar. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/ powerful-storm-snaps-communications-network-myanmars-rakhine-2023-05-15/ 56 Human Rights Watch (2023). Myanmar: Junta Blocks Lifesaving Cyclone Aid. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/20/ myanmar-junta-blocks-lifesaving-cyclone-aid/ 57 Access Now (2024). People need the internet during emergencies: #KeepItOn in Iraq. https://www.accessnow.org/pressrelease/internet-keepiton-iraq/ 58 Reuters (2023). We fled war to die in an earthquake, says Iraqi woman mourning family in Turkey. https://www.reuters.com/ world/middle-east/we-fled-war-die-an-earthquake-says-iraqi-woman-mourning-family-turkey-2023-02-08/