Digital democracy|Digital freedom
Internet shutdowns in 2024: a global overview
Throughout 2024, internet restrictions around the world continued to evolve. New restrictions emerged in response to political unrest, protests, and social issues, while some remained in place from the year before. In this article, we will take an in-depth look at global internet restrictions, exploring their types, causes, and key developments, as well as highlight notable shifts that occurred in 2024 compared to the past.
53 internet restrictions already in place at the start of 2024
2024 began with 53 internet restrictions imposed by 25 countries. Notably, some of these restrictions have already been in place for over 15 years. For example, Oman, Iran, China, and Turkmenistan all imposed long-term social media restrictions in 2009, and these measures are still in place today.
63 new restrictions in 2024
Throughout the year, 63 new restrictions were introduced across 17 countries.
As in 2023, Asia was once again in the lead¹: the governments of 7 Asian countries imposed 43 new restrictions, affecting 2 billion people. Africa followed second, with 17 new cases introduced by 8 countries, collectively impacting a total of 394 million people.
India again secured the top spot as the country with the most internet restrictions in Asia. In 2024, it imposed 23 new restrictions, marking a significant increase from 11 imposed in 2023.
Other Asian countries and territories grappling with internet restrictions included Pakistan (8 cases), Bangladesh and Turkey (4 cases each), Jammu and Kashmir (2 cases), Iran and Syria (1 case each). Although Iran still has ongoing social media restrictions, it only observed 1 new case in 2024. This is a remarkable drop from the record figure of 29 cases of internet restrictions in 2023, all imposed in response to anti-government protests in the aftermath of the 2022 Zahedan massacre.²
Mozambique played a significant role in Africa’s ranking (8 cases) in 2024. The country that had never restricted internet access before rose to second place in the ranking of countries with the most new restrictions. These restrictions, including social media platform limitations, followed the political turmoil and protests over disputed election results. New restrictions were also registered in Senegal and Kenya (2 cases each), Chad, Comoros, Mauritius, Nigeria, and Sudan (1 case each). Kenya's restrictions were implemented as part of measures to prevent cheating during the KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) exams.
Most notable internet restrictions in 2024
As mentioned before, India imposed 23 new restrictions in 2024 — more than double the new incidents registered in 2023. Of these restrictions, 13 were related to protests (such as the farmers’ protest in Punjab), and 10 were related to political turmoil (for example, following post-poll violence in Saran).
Turkey imposed 4 new restrictions. Amongst the most notable ones was the 24-hour restriction on social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, as authorities imposed a broadcast ban because of the deadly attack on Turkish Aerospace Industries' headquarters in Ankara.
In 2024, Turkey also blocked access to the instant messaging platform Discord following a court decision after the platform refused to share information requested by the government. The ban was implemented in the wake of public outrage over the murder of two women by a 19-year-old man in Istanbul. The content shared on Discord showed users praising the killing.
Bangladesh imposed 4 new restrictions, including a still ongoing social media restriction and a near-total nationwide internet shutdown following student protests. These include an existing restriction on WhatsApp and Facebook following protests against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, but also a near-total nationwide internet shutdown amid reports of rising deaths at student protests.
Jammu and Kashmir sustained a notable decline in internet restrictions, registering only 2 short-term internet shutdowns or restrictions to mobile network services in the current year. This figure is even smaller than the year before (4) and a significant reduction from the 42 instances observed in 2022.
Mozambique imposed restrictions for the first time with 8 new cases, all related to the current political climate. The shutdowns followed protests over disputed election results as part of a series of mass censorship measures imposed by the government, which included mobile internet blackouts and social media restrictions. Kenya also imposed restrictions for the first time, including a still ongoing restriction on the use of Telegram to prevent cheating during exams, but also a major disruption to internet connectivity amidst the deadly crackdown by police on #RejectFinanceBill2024 protesters.
El Salvador also registered a case for the first time, a disruption to Telegram backend and frontend services on the country's national Independence Day. This follows a pattern previously observed on presidential inauguration day.
In Europe, Russia introduced two new restrictions, both of which are still in effect. These include a block on Discord and restrictions targeting the backend infrastructure of the Signal messaging app.
Protests were the leading cause of internet restrictions in 2024
In 2024, half of internet restrictions were linked to protests — a decline compared to 2023, when nearly two-thirds of such restrictions were protest-related. This type of restriction, however, impacted more people and countries in 2024,, with over 2.2 billion people across 10 countries affected (compared to 1.7 billion across 8 countries in 2023).
In 2024, India ranked as the top country for internet restrictions related to protests. Of the 23 restrictions introduced nationwide, 13 were implemented specifically in response to protests. This is an increase from the 8 instances of protest-related restrictions observed in 2023.
Three countries implemented internet restrictions during elections in 2024 — Pakistan, Senegal, and Mauritius. This marks an increase in the number of countries imposing restrictions compared to 2023 when only five countries enacted such measures. The rise is particularly striking given that over 60 countries held elections in 2024. These findings suggest that fewer governments have attempted to influence their electoral process. That said, Pakistan led this list with 3 incidents, including a controversial election held under an internet and mobile network blackout and the disruption of social media platform service, which coincided with the launch of an election fundraising telethon by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party.
Eleven countries (the same number as last year) imposed restrictions due to various forms of political turmoil, with India leading the list with 10 cases. Notably, Russia also restricted the backend infrastructure of the Signal messaging app on most internet providers, citing concerns over its use for 'extremist' purposes, according to the country's regulator, Roskomnadzor.
As in the previous year, the most common type of internet restriction in 2024 was local network disruption, where access was limited to specific regions or cities. The most extreme form — nationwide network shutdowns affecting a significant portion of the population or the entire country — was implemented by 12 countries in 18 instances, marking an increase from 13 cases in 2023. Mozambique was affected by such large restrictions 6 times in 2024, followed by Bangladesh a couple of times.
Social media restrictions
Social media was targeted in a third of all internet restrictions introduced in 2024, a 33% increase from a quarter the year before.
Overall, 18 new instances of social media restrictions by 7 countries were observed — a smaller number than the 21 cases in 13 countries in 2023. These were mostly due to political turmoil (8 instances), protests (5 instances), and elections (2 instances).
Facebook was the most frequently blocked social media platform, facing restrictions from 5 governments on 9 occasions in 2024. X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Instagram came in second with 6 cases each, X restricted by 3, YouTube by 4, and Instagram by 3 governments, respectively. In 2023, Telegram was the most frequently blocked (7 governments enforced 8 restrictions); however, this figure dropped significantly to 3 restrictions imposed by 3 governments.
In terms of how long the restrictions lasted, WhatsApp faced the longest restriction, averaging 106 days. Contrary to 2023, when YouTube experienced one of the longest restriction periods (averaging 123 days), the average restriction duration in 2024 was around 13 days.
How did restrictions change in 2024 compared to the past?
In 2024, there was a 17% decrease in the number of new restrictions compared to 2023 (63 cases versus 76). This figure is also nearly a third lower than the 89 observed in 2022. The number of countries with new internet restrictions also decreased in 2024, nearly halving to 17 countries compared to 36 in 2023. Despite this decrease, more people were affected by new restrictions in 2024. The number totaled 2.6 billion individuals, an increase of 4% compared to 2.5 billion in 2023.
The total number of internet restrictions, including ongoing cases that started before the beginning of the year, was the same in 2024 compared to 2023 — 116 cases. However, internet shutdowns, encompassing long-term internet censorship as seen, for example, in China or the UAE, affected 4.78 billion people in 2024, marking an increase from 4.37 billion in 2023. Furthermore, in 2024, we saw 27 out of 196 analyzed countries and territories blocking social media or voice over IP (VoIP) services — a 12,5% increase from 24 in the previous year.
Although the total number of cases in 2024 was the same as in 2023, there was a notable increase in long-standing restrictions that began prior to the year in question. In 2024, 53 such cases were recorded, up from 40 in 2023 and significantly higher than the 23 cases in 2022.
In terms of restrictions that commenced in the year of interest, there has been a decline in new cases in 2024 compared to 2023. This decrease could be explained by a huge drop in cases in Iran, totaling 29 in 2023, whereas there was only one new instance in 2024. However, when looking at the number of countries enforcing restrictions, this number has increased from 1 new country in 2023 to 5 new countries in 2024.
Ongoing restrictions
As 2024 ended, a total of 63 ongoing cases of internet restrictions were reported at the time of publishing this research.
In Asia, social media platforms such as Twitter/X, Facebook, and YouTube remain restricted in Pakistan, primarily due to political tensions surrounding the opposition leader Imran Khan. Recently, Pakistan has also restricted BlueSky, a popular Twitter/X alternative, and has started targeting VPN services. Social media platforms remain restricted in Russia as well, following a ban in the aftermath of the illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The struggle for internet freedom remains
The landscape of global internet restrictions in 2024 reflects both continuity and change. While the overall number of new restrictions decreased by 17% compared to 2023, the global impact of these measures remained significant, affecting billions of people. Protests continued to be the primary cause for internet shutdowns, with countries like India and Mozambique seeing notable increases in such measures. Additionally, the trend toward long-term restrictions, such as those in China and the UAE, grew more pronounced. While fewer countries introduced new restrictions, the increased scale of existing ones highlights the ongoing global struggle for internet freedom amidst political and social challenges.
Methodology and sources
Please refer to the Internet Shutdown Tracker’s methodology page³ for methodology, data sources, and data spreadsheet.
For the complete research material behind this study, visit here.
