A new report from Top10vpn, an international VPN review website, has unveiled that deliberate Internet shutdowns by governments resulted in $1.74bn economic loss in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns report assessed the overall economic impact of major intentional Internet outages and social media shutdowns worldwide in 2023.
Globally, these actions led to an economic loss of over $9bn, impacting 747 million people throughout the year 2023, according to the report.
“Government internet outages in 25 countries lasting over 79,000 hours cost the global economy $9.01bn in 2023,” it stated.
According to the report, the Middle East and North Africa region ranked fourth globally, incurring a $1.44bn financial loss and 16,547 hours of disruption affecting 105.04 million users.
Russia faced a higher loss at $4.02bn, while Ethiopia ranked second with a $1.9bn loss, surpassing Iran’s $920.3m.
The overall impacts included 135 hours of Internet blackouts, 3,811 hours of social media shutdowns, with a total cost of Internet restrictions reaching $57.4m.
Additionally, other African nations, such as Algeria, Guinea, Sudan, Tanzania, Chad, Cuba, and Zimbabwe, were identified as countries facing financial losses due to government-induced Internet blackouts or social media restrictions.
The report highlighted that school exams, protests, information control, conflict, military coups, and election interference were primary causes of Internet outages.
X (formerly Twitter) faced the most restrictions among social media platforms, enduring 10,683 hours of intentional disruption—18 per cent higher than Instagram and 26 more than TikTok.
In 2022, there were 114 Internet shutdowns across 23 countries, totaling 50,095 hours and resulting in a $24.61bn financial loss. In 2021, 50 outages occurred in 21 countries, lasting 30,179 hours, with a cost of $5.45bn.
2020 witnessed 93 shutdowns in 21 countries, lasting 27,165 hours, incurring $4.01bn expenses. In 2019, 134 shutdowns across 22 countries lasted 19,207 hours, resulting in $8.07bn financial loss.
North America experienced a two-hour Internet outage in 2023, affecting 7.99 million users and causing a $1.8m loss. In contrast, South America lost $79.9m due to a 62-hour disruption, impacting 192.04 million users.
Further, the report identified school exams, protests, information control, conflict, military coups, and election interference as primary causes of Internet outages.
In mid-November last year, Kenya experienced a social media shutdown, lasting 192 hours, and incurring a $27m loss in Internet restrictions, attributed to the alleged leak of secondary school exam papers on Telegram.
In Ethiopia, due to religious tensions, authorities restricted access to major platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Telegram, and TikTok.
This resulted in an Internet blackout lasting 3,414 hours and a social media shutdown lasting 11,496 hours, causing a financial loss of $1.59bn.
