Digital isolation: Russia tops global ranking for internet shutdowns

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on its Facebook page.

In particular, according to monitoring services, the total duration of outages reached 37,166 hours, resulting in economic losses of $11.9 billion.

For comparison, Venezuela, which ranked second, was without internet for 5,952 hours during the year. The difference with Russia is almost six times. “This can be considered a ‘great achievement’ for a state that has been talking about ‘digital sovereignty’ for years,” the Center noted.

As noted, the scale of the shutdowns in Russia is staggering, and it is no longer possible to cover them up with traditional excuses about “protection from fraudsters” or “security issues.” In fact, this is a systematic practice that covers dozens of regions and is becoming the new norm.

“Internet shutdowns in Russia have finally become an instrument of state policy. During shutdowns, only resources from the Kremlin-approved ‘safelist’ are available. This is a deliberate strategy by the Russian authorities aimed at achieving complete digital isolation of the population,” the CCD emphasized.

As reported by Ukrinform, in Kamchatka, Russia, located 7,500 km from Ukraine, mobile web is being restricted, allegedly to “protect strategic Ministry of Defense facilities from drone attacks.”

Photo: Unsplash/Jonas Leupe