ENDING INTERNET SHUTDOWNS
Internet shutdowns are always an attack on human rights. When people are disconnected, it impacts all aspects of life — from work and education, to medical care and banking. Shutdowns block journalism, restrict free expression and community organizing, and prevent documentation of human rights abuses. During conflict and crisis, they stop people from accessing life-saving information and humanitarian aid.
CAMPAIGN
KeepItOn: why we’re updating our internet shutdown tracking methodology
Documenting internet shutdowns around the world shines a light on a weapon that keeps people in the dark. The Shutdown Tracker Optimization Project (STOP), an extensive dataset of nearly 1,750 shutdowns that have occurred since 2016, supports civil society in holding governments and perpetrators accountable for blatant human rights violations.
RESOURCES
Freedom of Expression
Tell MENA authorities: #NoExamShutdown
Year after year, the MENA region has led the world in exam-related shutdowns. With the 2024 exam season in the region quickly approaching, it’s time to take action and demand change! #NoExamShutdown
Content Governance
2025 elections and internet shutdowns watch
Governments around the world continue to shut down the internet during elections. Join our 2025 elections watch to #KeepItOn.
Freedom of Expression
The most violent year: internet shutdowns in 2023
Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition documented 283 internet shutdowns in 2023 — the highest number since 2016.
Digital Security
Taxonomy of a shutdown: 8 ways governments restrict access to the internet, and how to #KeepItOn
Our new guide explains the technology behind network interference to help people prepare for, circumvent, and document internet shutdowns.
Internet Shutdowns
KeepItOn: frequently asked questions
#KeepItOn: A global movement to end internet shutdowns 1. What is the #KeepItOn campaign? It’s a campaign launched by Access Now in 2016 to help unite and organize the efforts of activists
Freedom of Expression
Have questions about internet shutdowns? Kill Switch has answers
Why aren’t internet shutdowns illegal? Are there ways to bypass them? Can we fight internet shutdowns in court? Does anyone see a way to end shutdowns, once and for all? Kill Switch podcast has the answers.
Internet Shutdowns
Internet shutdowns and elections handbook
Internet shutdowns and elections handbook A guide for election observers, embassies, activists, and journalists [Leer en español] [Читайте на русском] This handbook explains how internet shutdowns undermine democractic elections and
Connectivity
Palestine unplugged: how Israel disrupts Gaza’s internet
This report illustrates the state of Gaza’s internet throughout October 2023 by looking at internet traffic by ISPs and locations.
Advocating to #KeepItOn during elections: what you can do
Latest updates
When governments pull the plug on dissent, citizens from Iran to Uganda fight to stay online
#KeepItOn: authorities must reverse social media shutdown order and restore access in Gabon
We urgently demand the government of Gabon to immediately reverse orders to shut down social media indefinitely in the country. The order is in gross violation of national and international human rights frameworks and must not be allowed to continue.
Gabon blocks social media ‘until further notice’ as VPN demand soars
Africa Unplugged: The Fight Against Internet Shutdowns
Joint Statement on Internet Shutdowns in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Civil society coalition calls for Direct-to-Cell satellite connectivity amid Iran’s internet shutdowns
Iran internet blackout: ‘Shutdowns tend to enable governments to conceal human rights violations’
The communications blackout in Iran: network data show near-total comms shutdown
Inside the fight to keep Iran online
Iran’s internet shutdown is now one of its longest ever, as protests continue
“Workarounds are very limited” – VPNs stop working in Uganda as internet connectivity drops
VPN interest spikes in Uganda as the internet gets disrupted ahead of the general elections
#KeepItOn: Iran plunged into digital darkness, concealing human rights abuses
join the international community, including the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, in calling on Iran to immediately restore internet and mobile communications and in demanding accountability and transparency for the grave human rights violations documented in the country
#KeepItOn: Government of Uganda must ensure unrestricted internet access throughout the upcoming elections
Access Now appeals to you, President Yoweri Museveni, to ensure that people in Uganda have unfettered access to the internet, digital platforms, and all other communication channels throughout the upcoming elections on January 15, 2026
Connectivity as a weapon of war: how internet shutdowns harm civilians in armed conflict
Access Now’s latest report, Internet shutdowns in armed conflict: a typology of harms, unpacks the serious harms that internet shutdowns inflict on civilian populations during armed conflict.
Internet shutdowns in armed conflict: a typology of harms
Our latest report, Internet shutdowns in armed conflict: a typology of harms, unpacks the serious harms that internet shutdowns inflict on civilian populations during armed conflict.