Governments across the world have been increasingly pulling the plug for the internet and social media services lately. Whether that's to halt the spread of social unrests, disrupt the information flow in times of elections, or prevent cheating during national exams, the shutdowns have a wider impact.
Only in June, Iraq, Algeria and Syria enforced a series of exam-related shutdowns for a total of 52, 50 and 6 hours respectively. In the same month, Senegalese couldn't access social media platforms unless using a VPN service for over a week amid political clashes. The impact of the shutdowns does more than erode humans rights, they also cost billions to economies.
