Governments across the world occasionally order internet blackouts to suppress demonstrations and dissent.
In the wake of the quota reform movement and subsequent clashes, the people in Bangladesh experienced an internet shutdown for five consecutive days.
While broadband services have just been restored to a significant extent, mobile internet services still remain suspended as per government orders.
Reports from global internet service monitoring agencies suggest that such restrictive measures are more common in countries where democracy is not firmly established.
In Bangladesh, the government has blamed sabotage activities at a data center for the internet shutdown. However, individuals concerned have denied the statement and claimed the data center damages have no connection with the blackout.
Govt blamed sabotage at data center for the internet shutdown, but individuals concerned claimed the damages have no connection with the blackout.
A number of global organisations monitor the internet services and disruptions across the world.
According to the US-based Internet Society, the internet services in Bangladesh were completely shut down for five days and 12 hours from 18 to 23 July.
The outage center of US-based content delivery network Cloudflare reported that the internet blackout in Bangladesh started at midnight on 17 July, as per a government order. In the global perspective, Syria topped the list of countries with disrupted internet connections, with Bangladesh in the second spot.
It is easily understandable that the incident of cutting off the country from the outside world was mainly intended to prevent the free flow of information and viewsTIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman
Following clashes, gunfire, and arson incidents centering the quota reform movement, the government imposed a curfew at midnight on 19 July. Although the curfew has been relaxed at times, it still remains in force.
Mobile internet services were suspended from midnight on 17 July, while broadband services were disconnected from 9:15 pm on 18 July. Limited broadband services resumed five days later on the night of 23 July, but popular social media platforms—Facebook and TikTok—remain inaccessible. Besides, WhatsApp and Instagram services have yet to be restored completely.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) condemned the government's decision to shut down the internet, describing it as a suicidal measure for the government.
In a statement on Thursday, TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said, “It is easily understandable that the incident of cutting off the country from the outside world was mainly intended to prevent the free flow of information and views.”
On 18 July, the disaster management building in the capital’s Mohakhali area was set on fire, and there are three more buildings in a close proximity that house some internet service providing entities, in addition to their data center.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, multiple internet service providing entities said the fire incident damaged some cables outside their buildings, and the particular cables were disconnected from the data center to refrain the fire from spreading.
Sources concerned said the damage should not have caused a nationwide internet shutdown, as only around 30 per cent of the country's internet is routed through Mohakhali.
Governments in countries where democracy is not firmly established or there is a significant deficit in the rule of law shut down the internet at their convenience to undermine people’s right to expression and information.
At a programme on 18 July, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for information and communication technology, initially cited national and civil security concerns as reasons for the internet shutdown but later attributed the outage to damage at the Mohakhali data center.
US-based Access Now and the KeepitOn Coalition, which work on digital rights and internet shutdowns, noted in their report for 2023 that governments across the world resort to internet shutdowns to curb violence, war crimes, and attacks on democracy.
In Bangladesh, mobile internet services were shut down three times in 2023 and six times in 2022. When it comes to the global perspective, the report noted that internet services were shut down 63 times in 15 countries, including Bangladesh, to suppress dissent.
Moreover, the KeepitOn Coalition called on the Bangladesh government to restore internet services on 19 July.
Citing global studies, Saimum Reza Talukder, a senior lecturer at the School of Law at BRAC University, told Prothom Alo that governments in countries where democracy is not firmly established or there is a significant deficit in the rule of law shut down the internet at their convenience to undermine people’s right to expression and information.
“It is also easier to conduct a crackdown on the people when the internet is disconnected,” he added.