López-Levy, who grew up a few blocks from
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, said the
country’s current leader has embraced the
economic potential of digital technology far
more than his predecessors, but may have
calculated that a large segment of Cubans will
accept a temporary internet shutdown if it helps
restore order in the streets.
Elsewhere, government internet shutdowns
after or ahead of protests have also become
commonplace, whether for a few hours or
extending for months. In Ethiopia, there was
a three-week shutdown in July 2020 after civil
unrest. The internet blackout in the Tigray region
has stretched on for months. In Belarus, the
internet went down for more than two days
after an August 2020 election seen as rigged
sparked mass protests. Mobile internet service
repeatedly went down during weekend protests
for months afterwards.
A decade ago during the Arab Spring, when
social media was still in its early years and Egypt,
Tunisia and other countries in the Middle East
faced bloody uprisings that were broadcast on
social media, headlines declared the movements
“Twitter Revolutions” and experts debated about
just how important a role social media played in
the events. Ten years later, there is no question
that social media and private chat platforms have
become an essential organizing tool. Restricting
them, in turn, is a routine move to suppress
dissent. Internet service was disrupted in Cali,
Colombia during May anti-government protests.
This year has also seen disruptions in Armenia,
Uganda, Iran, Chad, Senegal and the Republic
of Congo.