In 2021, the global economy suffered a loss of $5.5 billion due to deliberate internet shutdowns by governments around the world.

An analysis by Top10VPN shows that 'government internet outages' in 21 countries lasted over 30,000 hours and cost the global economy $5.5 billion in 2021, 36% increase compared to 2020.

The cost of internet shutdowns includes social media shutdowns, internet blackouts and severe ISP throttling. 75% of government internet outages were associated with additional human rights abuses like restrictions on freedom of assembly, election interference and infringements on freedom of the press. These increased by almost 80% in 2021 when compared to 2020.

Twitter was the most blocked social media platform with 12,379 hours of forced disruptions. This is 60% more than Facebook.

Myanmar was the most affected nation ($2.8 billion) in 2021 due to the military crackdown, followed by Nigeria ($1.45 billion) and India ($583 million).

 

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