5 INTERNET SHUTDOWNS IN 2024 In 2024, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition documented 296 shutdowns in 54 countries. This continues a sharp uptick in the number of total shutdowns after what was already a devastating, record-setting year in 2023 (283).2 It also marks an alarming 35% increase in the number of countries where people suffered internet shutdowns over the previous high in 2022 (40), including seven countries where governments joined the offender list for the first time. Breaking the record from prior years, we saw 47 shutdowns continue from 2024 into 2025, with 35 active shutdowns ongoing for more than a year as 2024 came to a close.3 The four offenders with the highest total number of shutdowns accounted for 209 cases, or 71% of the global total. In Myanmar, at least six perpetrators, led predominantly by the regime, imposed 85 shutdowns across the country, reflecting the unprecedented scale at which shutdowns have been deployed since the outbreak of civil war in 2021. Following closely behind was India with 84 shutdowns, which for the first time since 2018 was not the leading offender but still imposed an unacceptably high number of shutdowns as the world’s largest democracy. Pakistan imposed 21 shutdowns, the highest ever for the country, and Russia imposed 19 shutdowns, including seven in Ukraine during its continued fullscale invasion. The landscape for monitoring and pushing back on internet shutdowns has grown increasingly complex, introducing new challenges for attribution, accountability, and prevention. Additionally, internet shutdowns are in many cases becoming a crossborder issue. In 2024, people in 13 countries experienced 25 shutdowns implemented by a combination of eight perpetrators outside of their borders. Perpetrators have also shown more sophistication in their mechanisms for imposing and obfuscating shutdowns and thwarting circumvention attempts, including using techniques like jamming devices (5), cyberattacks (5), forced seizures and disabling of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet terminals (2), and tampering of subsea cable landing stations (1). The role of the private sector also continues to evolve, as providers of alternative connectivity solutions like satellite internet gain 2 3 influence over people's ability to connect,4 and the companies that run social media platforms adopt content governance practices that may lead more governments to block or otherwise interfere with access to these platforms. Staggering numbers of shutdowns were imposed during conflict, protests, exams, and elections around the world, and 72 were linked to grave human rights abuses.5 As perpetrators break more records for shutdowns around the world, our calls to #KeepItOn must get stronger. Behind each of the 1,754 shutdowns since 2016 is a story of people and communities cut off from the world and each other, often during political upheaval, unrest, violence, and war. As evidenced by what we see in the 2024 data, the significant increase in internet shutdowns in 2023 was no fluke. In combination with censorship, surveillance, VPN bans, cable cuts, and other tools of digital authoritarianism, the increasing number of shutdowns reflects a world where internet access is consistently weaponized, restricted, and precarious. One internet shutdown is one too many. Geo-scopes of internet shutdowns in 2024 6 39% of internet shutdowns in 2024 affected people in multiple areas in a country or nationwide 39% (115) of shutdowns affected locations in more than one state, province, or region 37% (110) of shutdowns only affected one city, county, or village 24% (71) of shutdowns affected more than one city in the same state, province, or region Access Now (2024). Shrinking democracy, growing violence: Internet shutdowns in 2023. https://www.accessnow.org/keepiton-2023-report. Access Now (2023). Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022. https://www.accessnow.org/keepiton-2022-report. 4 Access Now (2025). Holding space for human rights: Improving the governance of satellite internet connectivity. https://www.accessnow.org/ wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Holding-Space-for-Human-Rights-a-bid-for-better-governance-of-satellite-internet-connectivity.pdf 5 Grave human rights abuses include cases where there is evidence of violence, including murder, torture, rape, or apparent war crimes by governments, militaries, and police or security forces. These abuses must occur within the geographic area and time period of a verified shutdown to be counted as coinciding with a shutdown.