Content note: the following post contains references to violence, war crimes, and torture.
Not a single day of 2025 passed without at least one internet shutdown. Last year, people across the world experienced the highest number of deliberate blackouts ever recorded by the #KeepItOn coalition.
Launching today, March 31, 2026, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition’s new report, Rising repression meets global resistance: Internet shutdowns in 2025, reveals that at least 313 shutdowns were implemented in 52 countries. Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), authorities and other actors imposed at least 52 internet shutdowns across 15 countries in 2025, highlighting the continued rise of digital repression across the region.
Year after year, authorities seek the power to influence elections, silence and isolate people, and attack our rights with impunity behind the digital armor of deliberate internet shutdowns. Not one of the 365 days of 2025 passed without perpetrators wielding shutdowns to lock entire populations out of communication, education, information, democratic participation, and emergency services. While people are meeting this growing repression with increasing resistance, we demand accountability. This flagrant disregard for human rights will not be our new world order.Felicia Anthonio, #KeepItOn Global Campaign Manager at Access Now
Key findings include:
- Normalization of shutdowns: there were at least 52 internet shutdowns across 15 countries in MENA in 2025;
- Armed conflict remains the leading trigger: shutdowns were recorded in Palestine, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. In Palestine, all seven shutdowns in 2025 were imposed by Israel, and particularly targeted the Gaza Strip, a favourite method of control since the genocide began in 2023;
- Prolific perpetrator: Iran was the region’s top offender, imposing 11 shutdowns in 2025 and continuing the practice into 2026, implementing the longest and most comprehensive nation-wide shutdown earlier this year;
- Education as a target: exam-related shutdowns persisted as a systemic practice across in Iraq, Algeria, Jordan, Syria, and Sudan; Iraqi authorities once again imposed the highest number, with six exam-related shutdowns, while Algeria and Jordan continued blocking messaging applications during exams; Syria maintained the same tactic of exam-related shutdowns used under the former Assad regime; and Sudan imposed mobile internet shutdowns during exam periods despite the ongoing civil war; and
- Blocking the alternatives: targeting alternative connectivity rose, with authorities increasingly disrupting Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet services, including in Iran, Syria, and Yemen.
In a region marred by armed conflict and ongoing escalations, internet shutdowns are emerging as a new method of warfare used to collectively punish, isolate, terrorize and harm civilians across MENA. At the very moment when people need the internet most — to connect with loved ones and access life-saving information and resources — authorities across the region have shown little restraint in cutting off this vital lifeline. This underscores the urgent need to protect civilian connectivity and infrastructure. It is also time for states and companies to invest in secure, reliable, and scalable solutions that enable people to bypass shutdowns and censorship.Marwa Fatafta, MENA Policy and Advocacy Director at Access Now
In 2025, shutdowns were implemented in the MENA region in: Algeria (one), Iran (11), Iraq (seven), Jordan (five), Lebanon (one), Libya (one), Oman (two), Palestine (seven imposed by Israel), Qatar (one), Saudi Arabia (one), Sudan (three), Syria (three), Türkiye (five), United Arab Emirates (one), Yemen (three; one imposed by hackers: “S4uD1Pwnz”).
Read the full report, global snapshot, and shutdowns dashboard.