Government Internet Shutdowns Cost $19.7B in 2025 1/9/26, 2:49 PM What is the Cost of Internet Shutdowns Report? Our Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns report estimates the total economic impact of every major, deliberate internet and social media shutdown worldwide in 2025. These deliberate disruptions represent the most extreme form of internet censorship, infringing on digital rights and imposing substantial economic harm on national economies. Government-imposed internet outages in 28 countries, lasting more than 120,000 hours, cost the global economy $19.7 billion in 2025. In an exceptionally bad year for internet freedom, the cost of internet shutdowns surged by 156% compared to 2024, alongside the highest number of deliberate disruption hours ever recorded. The duration of internet shutdowns rose over 70% year over year, despite 2024 already having set a record for total annual disruption hours. Overall, there were 47% more hours of full internet blackouts than in 2024, and 66% more hours of social media shutdowns. The 12,712 hours of internet throttling accounted for 10.5% of all deliberate disruption hours in 2025, following a year in which it wasn’t used at scale. https://www.top10vpn.com/research/cost-of-internet-shutdowns/ Page 3 of 33