There's a number that's been rattling around my head for weeks now, and I can't shake it: **in 2024, governments around the world shut down the internet more than 200 times.** Not 200 websites. Not 20
I remember when internet shutdowns felt like a distant authoritarian quirk — something that happened "over there." That illusion died somewhere around 2019, and by 2025 it's been buried six feet deep.
Here's what most people miss: the playbook has evolved. Governments aren't just yanking cables anymore. They're doing it surgically, legally, and with plausible deniability baked in. And citizens? The
Let me walk you through what's actually happening on the digital front lines this year.
## The Shutdown Playbook Got an Upgrade — And It's Creepy Efficient
The old model was blunt: kill the whole network, blame "technical difficulties," wait for the protests to fizzle. Bangladesh did it in 2024. Sudan's been doing it for years. Myanmar basically turned i
But 2025's version is a different beast entirely.
Governments killed the internet 200+ times last year. Here's how the 2025 shutdown playbook works — and the underground