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Benin Internet Shutdown Repeats Pattern of Government Censorship Across
Africa

by Salem Solomon

   WASHINGTON --

   When authorities in Benin turned off the country's internet during
   parliamentary elections Sunday, they became the ninth African
   government to restrict access this year.

   The outages last hours or days and may target specific services -- or
   the entire internet.

   Governments don't often explain the outages, but when they do, they
   focus on the need for security and civil order. The shutdowns usually
   accompany protests, demonstrations and elections.

   But data from The NetBlocks Group, a nonpartisan organization that
   tracks global internet freedom and monitors outages, indicate the
   serious economic and social impacts of even a short outage.

   'A blunt violation'

   In Benin, a one-day shutdown costs the country $1.54 million, according
   to data compiled by NetBlocks and The Internet Society, a U.S.-based
   nonprofit organization focused on internet freedom.

   "The decision to shut down access to the Internet and social media on
   an election day is a blunt violation of the right to freedom of
   expression," François Patuel,[1] Amnesty International's West Africa
   researcher, wrote Sunday.

   Benin's outage lasted 15 hours and encompassed all internet services,
   including social media, according to NetBlocks.

   In more populous nations, such as Ethiopia, those numbers can climb
   five times higher, even while internet adoption rates remain relatively
   low.

   Press freedom and human rights groups, meanwhile, continue to sound
   alarms about the impact of internet outages on journalists' abilities
   to gather and report news.

   Gatekeepers

   Citizens gain access to the internet via an internet service provider,
   or ISP. Each ISP acts as a gatekeeper to the internet, providing its
   subscribers access, but also, potentially, cutting them off.

   In Africa, countries tend to have just one or two ISPs. For regimes
   intent on control, few ISPs makes it easier to block access to the
   entire internet to most of the population.

   In contrast, thousands of ISPs provide access in the United States;
   shutting off the internet would require broad coordination, and
   cooperation across each independent organization.

   In Africa, though, authorities often have an easy time controlling one
   or two state-owned ISPs.

   And governments have capitalized on that.

   So far this year, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Mali
   and Zimbabwe have restricted internet access, according to the human
   rights group Amnesty International. NetBlocks has observed additional
   disruptions in Algeria, Sudan and Egypt since January.

   Freedom of expression

   Journalists rely on internet access to do their work, and they tend to
   feel the effects of shutdowns more acutely.

   Even partial outages can affect reporters' abilities to communicate
   with sources, monitor events as they unfold and share news with
   audiences, in their countries and beyond.

   Blocking internet access can affect freedom to assemble alongside
   freedom of expression. Protesters in Africa, and around the world,
   often use social media to organize.

   For governments experiencing tumultuous transfers of power, the
   internet can introduce unwanted volatility.

   Most of the countries that have experienced outages this year, as in
   years past, have restricted access during elections or in the midst of
   protests and unrest.

   Salem Solomon is a multimedia digital journalist with the Voice of
   America's Africa Division. She covers [2]the latest news from across
   the continent, and she also reports and edits in [3]Amharic and
   [4]Tigrigna.

   Salem's multimedia and data-driven projects include [5]How Western
   DRC's Ebola Outbreak Was Contained, [6]Unrest: Ethiopia at a
   Crossroads, [7]Zimbabwe in Transition, [8]Hunger Across Africa and
   [9]How Long Have Africa's Presidents Held Office?

   Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post,
   Poynter.org and Reuters. She researches trends in analytics and digital
   journalism. For tips and inquiries, email: salemsolomon@voanews.com.

References

   1. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/04/benin-internet-shutdown-on-election-day-is-a-blunt-attack/
   2. http://www.voanews.com/author/25229.html
   3. http://amharic.voanews.com/author/25085.html
   4. http://tigrigna.voanews.com/author/25525.html
   5. https://projects.voanews.com/drc-ebola-outbreak/?utm_source=voaprojects
   6. https://projects.voanews.com/ethiopia-unrest/
   7. https://projects.voanews.com/zimbabwe-in-transition/
   8. http://projects.voanews.com/africa-drought/home.php
   9. http://projects.voanews.com/african-presidents/