Nigeria was one of the few sub-Saharan African countries without an experience of internet shutdown in 2023 as the region lost $1.74 billion to government-induced shutdowns in the year.
This was revealed in a recent report by Top10vpn, an international VPN review website. Ethiopia lost the largest amount to internet shutdown in the region at $1.59 billion, thus accounting for 91% of the total money lost by the region in 2023.
According to the report, the country recorded 14,910 hours of internet shutdown, which was implemented by the government to curtail protests. Sparked by religious tensions, authorities in Ethiopia restricted access to major platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Telegram, and TikTok. This affected 29.8 million internet users in the country.
Other African countries that lost to internet shutdowns
Other African countries that lost to internet shutdowns in 2023 include Kenya, Algeria, Guinea, Sudan, Tanzania, Cuba, Chad, and Zimbabwe. In mid-November last year, Telegram was periodically blocked for over a week in Kenya due to an alleged leak of secondary school exam papers on the platform. This social media shutdown lasted 192 hours and cost $27 million in Internet restrictions.
- Recall that Nigeria also topped Africa in terms of loss to internet shutdown in 2021 when the government banned Twitter (now X) From 5 June 2021 to 13 January 2022. According to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Nigeria lost an estimated N10.72 trillion to the ban.
- Nigeria, however, did not record any shutdowns in 2023.
Global loss
Europe came first in terms of internet shutdowns in 2023 losing $4.02 billion to 1,365 hours of internet shutdowns that affected 182.59 people. Sub-Saharan Africa came in second after Europe, with $1.74 billion in losses spread over 30,785 hours and affecting 84.8 million Internet users. After Asia, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region ranked fourth with a $1.44 billion financial loss and 16,547 hours of disruption impacting 105.04 million users.
Russia suffered a higher financial loss of $4.02 billion, while Ethiopia, the oldest independent nation in Africa, came in second with a loss of $1.9 billion, above Iran’s $920.3 million.
North America experienced a 2-hour Internet outage in 2023, affecting 7.99 million Internet users and incurring a $1.8 million loss. South America, on the other hand, lost $79.9 million due to an Internet disruption that lasted 62 hours and affected 192.04 million users.
According to Top10vpn, the 2023 report shows that the global economic impact of internet shutdowns was down by 67% compared to 2022 but up by 45% in 2021. However, the duration of internet shutdowns went up by 18% compared to 2022 and up by 71.5% in 2021.
- “We stand opposed to internet censorship and governments withholding access to the internet as a form of social control.
- “Our goal in doing this research is to keep public attention focused on just how damaging internet shutdowns truly are. This damage is both direct, in terms of the economic and human cost, and indirect, in that it forces people to use unsafe VPNs to try to circumvent the restrictions imposed upon them,” Top10vpn stated in the report.
It, however, noted that governments disrupting their own citizens’ internet access is not the only cause of internet shutdowns as other factors could also lead to shutdowns.
