Internet shutdowns at record high in Africa as access ‘weaponised’

[Kaz]

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Digital blackouts reached a record high in 2024 in Africa as more governments sought to keep millions of citizens off the internet than in any other period over the last decade.

A report released by the internet rights group Access Now and #KeepItOn, a coalition of hundreds of civil society organisations worldwide, found there were 21 shutdowns in 15 African countries, surpassing the existing record of 19 shutdowns in 2020 and 2021.

Authorities in Comoros, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritius joined repeat offenders such as Burundi, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea and Kenya. Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania were also on the list. But perpetrators also included militias and other non-state actors.

Telecommunication and internet service providers who shut services based on government orders are also complicit in violating people’s rights, said Felicia Anthonio, the #KeepItOn campaign manager at Access Now, citing the UN guiding principles on business and human rights.

The details showed that most of the shutdowns were imposed as a response to conflicts, protests and political instability. There were also restrictions during elections.

 

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Internet shutdowns at record high in Africa as access ‘weaponised’ | Internet | The Guardian

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More governments seeking to keep millions of people offline amid conflicts, protests and political instability

 

Africa continues to be one of the most beat down continents in the world.  I suspect that's due to climate change and the fact that they will have great farm lands in the next 20 years.  Africa is expected to be a food provider for many other countries.  That doesn't work if Africa is feeding their own people with that food, but if their population is continually stepped on, they will have plenty of production for the rest of the world.

 

The irony is that all 'first world' countries are in a population decline, so they could just let the banking world take over and it might accomplish the same thing.